'Jump on a bike', say Team GB gold medallists

Olympic gold medallists Katy Marchant, Josie Knight and Sophie Capewell hope their achievements will inspire more people to take up cycling

Gold medal-winning cyclists are hoping their success at the Paris Olympics will inspire their local community to jump on a bike.

Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell, who won gold alongside their teammate Emma Finucane in the women’s team sprint, have returned from Paris to Greater Manchester where they train at the National Cycling Centre velodrome.

The pair, alongside other members of the GB cycling team, have joined forces with non-profit community organisation Manchester Bike Kitchen in Hyde, which promotes bike-riding as a way to improve physical and mental health.

The initiative forms part of the national ChangeMakers programme which matches athletes with community projects after their return from competing.

Having only returned from Paris on Monday, Ms Capewell said her gold medal win still felt like “a bit like a dream”.

“It was just so special, because it's been a project for this team for a really long time and we're Olympic champions now. It's really cool to say that,” she said.

The athletes joined a group in a workshop

She said her success was born from “a joy for riding a bike” – a joy she now hopes to inspire in others.

“And it doesn't have to be at a top level. It could just be riding to work or cycling to school or anything like that,” she added.

“The communities support us, so it's really important for us to give back and support them.”

Ms Marchant said cycling was an easy place to start for people wanting to be more active.

“Cycling is a really, really accessible sport, and we want to be able to inspire people to get on bikes,” she said.

Powerful impact

Manchester Bike Kitchen’s Andy Hinton said the organisation aimed to make bike-riding even more accessible by offering cycle repairs, advice and by refurbishing pre-loved bikes.

He said he hoped the achievements of Team GB’s cyclists would have a particularly powerful impact on young people.

“If someone watches Beth Shriever in the Olympics or Kieran Reilly who won the silver medal, they can walk in here and pick up a second-hand BMX and actually start," he said.

“And who knows, in four years, eight years, they could be representing Team GB, riding that bike wherever that may be.”

Andy Hinton wants cycling to be accessible to everyone

The organisation also runs weekly sessions for the community such as Tea and Tinker, which sees people go into the shop for tea and biscuits, and to have a tinker with a bike.

“They become volunteers. Some of them have actually gone off now on lead rides. From here, it becomes a social group,” Mr Hinton said.

“We do bikes, but we're more about the community.”