Cycle stars visit schools
TWO cycling legends came to Macclesfield to help inspire the next generation of superstars.
Laura Kenny, Britain’s most suc
BRITAIN’S greatest ever Paralympian, Dame Sarah Storey, told a packed audience ‘never wonder what if’.
The cycling great was at the King’s School, in Macclesfield, for a wellbeing day and talked to youngsters aged eight to 12.
She has won 28 medals, including 17 golds, in cycling and swimming across eight Paralympics.
But Sarah remembers when she began swimming aged 10 she was told ‘you are a bit too old to start’.
She said: “Well I wasn’t going to let that stop me and I tried all the harder. I did eight or nine training sessions every week, clocking up over 20 hours a week all through my teenage years, to build my strength and technique.”
“Don’t think ‘what if I had tried harder, done that extra practice session, gone that extra mile’. Never allow yourself to fail for want of practice and hard work.”
“If you feel upset when you fail, then let that build your determination and, most importantly, don’t be down-hearted, just think of failing as an opportunity to learn where to improve. cessful ever female Olympian, and Dame Sarah Storey, who has won more Paralympic medals than any other Brit visited schools in the area.
Both are local girls – Sarah lives in
“Determination, hard work, practice and resilience aren’t just reserved for sport but should be transferable skills across all aspects of your life.”
Despite being 43, Sarah says she wants to go to the Paris Paralympics in 2024.
Pupils were able to ask her ques
Disley and Laura in Chelford.
Here’s what they had to say during visits to the King’s School, in Macclesfield, and Marton and District Primary. tions and quizzed her about balancing sport and family life.
She said: “Now I have a daughter and a son and we go on the road to all the major meetings together, I have a distraction.
“Instead of fretting and maybe getting too nervous before an event we can just play together.”
LAURA Kenny says she would like to see more cycling lanes in Cheshire - but feels the cycling provision is improving in the county.
The five-time Olympic gold medallist, 29, was at Marton and District Primary School on Wednesday, September 22.
She lives in Chelford and feels that it is the ‘best of both worlds’ in terms of training routes but also said ‘it could be better’ with regard to cycle lanes.
Laura said: “It’s the best of both worlds living in Chelford because you can even go flats and go towards Tatton Park and go round on the lanes or you can go up into the peaks within like half an hour.
“For me to ride to Macclesfield it takes me about half an hour and then I can go straight up the Cat and Fiddle and then round into the hills.
“For me the lanes are so quiet. I can go for three or four hours and I’ll just be lost in the lanes, I really enjoy that. I would obviously like to see more cycle lanes, I was a little bit gutted that the new Congleton bypass bike lane ends just before Eaton and I just think they’ve got a little park in Eaton, I would have loved to see them extend that bike path to the park.
“That opens it up for the children but I know they’re making a big effort. I think it’s improving but I would always say it could be better.”