Emergence of talented young riders

2020 is a special year for Strabane Lifford Cycling club (SLCC) as it celebrates its tenth anniversary. Even with the curtailment of cycling events on the roads because of Covid-19 the club has been celebrating and marking their tenth anniversary with a lookback at its history and phenomenal growth.

Club Secretary Simon McCarron has compiled a comprehensive history of the club over the last decade and listed how the different sections of the club came about and grew over the years.

This week he focuses on Youth Development and The Sportive.

The Youth Team

The history and journey of youth cycling at Strabane Lifford Cycling Club is one of the most successful stories to tell about the club. The club went from having no youth section in 2015 to officially being the number one cycling club in the province of Ulster and top 3 in Ireland in 2018.

The story and history of youth cycling at the club began at the 2015 AGM. When the meeting moved on to AOB Jay McCauley spoke to the meeting and pointed out that the club had no youth section and if the members  wanted to ensure the longevity of the  cycling club it  needed to start a youth team.

It was agreed at the meeting that a sub committee would be formed to take the project forward.

Jay, Raymond McGinley, Gerry Kelly, Peter Moore and Jean McGinley sat on the sub committee and worked hard to put everything in place to form a youth team.

Their hard work resulted in the club launching, in conjunction with Derry City and Strabane District Council, their cycling youth development project on Saturday April 16th 2016 at Melvin Sports Complex, Strabane.

The event was a huge success with over forty kids ranging in ages from 8 to 18 in attendance at the launch day with their parents and joining SLCC. Weekly youth training took place at Melvin each Saturday after the launch event.

The ethos of the clubs youth development program was to get kids on their bikes to enjoy the sport of cycling.  That youth ethos has remained the same ever since.

In August 2016 the youth team were kitted out in club colours as the club took delivery of a very large order of new youth cycling kit. The SLCC name could now be seen out and about the district as the large youth membership wore their club tops with pride.