Westbury Wheelers hope to continue exploding popularity

Long-time member Alan Millard in the Westbury Wheelers kit.

WESTBURY Wheelers cycling club has recently applied for funding to continue its growth, following a huge influx of new members.

The club, founded in 1983, arranges weekly group cycles out of Westbury for its members. In the last five years it has seen over 100  new members join and is looking to continue its success.

Chairman, membership secretary, and White Horse News’s Person of the Year 2014 Sean Price has seen membership grow from 21 riders to 180 in his five years at the club.

Sean said, “The club made a conscious effort to expand as it was in danger of evaporating.  Ed Coleman and I introduced green rides for those wanting to get involved with road cycling.

“Since then, most other members have helped with the success of green rides and our Sunday club rides now have so many participants that we often split into four different groups of varying abilities.  This, along with British success in the Olympics and Tour de France, has made cycling a sport that many want to be involved with.

“Westbury Wheelers’ committee is a dedicated and devoted team of volunteers that are always striving to make the club the best it can be.

“We have now created a race team who are currently ranked 17th in the South West.  We know this will improve but we also realise that great clubs contain members of all abilities from beginner to racer and more importantly all those in between.

“We have applied for funding to be put towards training resources and gazebo/feather flags for a stand at events and to fly the name of Westbury Wheelers far and wide.”

Cycling has seen a huge rise in popularity in recent years, due in part to the massive successes and high profiles of athletes such as Sir Bradley Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy, and Chris Froome, and the recent hosting of the Tour de France’s beginning stages. British Cycling reported passing 100,000 members for the first time in October last year, announcing that its membership had doubled in the wake of the London 2012 Olympics.

Westbury Wheelers cater to riders of all abilities, and can be contacted at www.westburywheelers.co.uk or on Facebook.