Our three Jim Ridler Bursary recipiants for 2026 report on their seasons competing in regional, national and international cycling events. Jorgie, Nathan and Issac have all been a huge credit to the club, working hard to build on their previous successes and raise the profile of Stratford Cycling Club. Well done!

Jorgie

The 2025/26 season was my final year of racing in the Under 14s category, and it has been a season full of new experiences, challenges and achievements. This year I raced at national level, in the West Midlands Circuit Series, VCL Deux Jours, Tour of Kent, the Guildford Town Centre Race and the Youth Tour of Assen once again.

My favourite event of the year was definitely the VCL Deux Jours. It was a two-day event consisting of four stages, and it was a very hot weekend for March! I’m really proud to have come away with two podium positions, with the time trials being my favourite stage of the weekend.

Across the circuit season, I managed to achieve 12 podium places and finished 3rd overall in the West Midlands Youth Series. I’m really pleased with this result and everything I learnt throughout the series.

This season I also decided to give the National Youth Omnium a go. I had only ridden on an outdoor track with fixed gears a few times before, but I gave it my all and managed to finish 6th out of 13 girls. I really enjoyed the experience and I’m looking forward to doing more omnium racing in 2027!

A huge thank you to Stratford CC for the bursary and for giving me the opportunities to race at such a high level. I’ve learnt so much throughout this season, and I’m excited to take everything I’ve learnt into my first year of under 16s. Bring on the 2026/2027 CX season!

Nathan

I would like to say a big thank you for the support that Stratford Cycling Club have given me over recent years including receiving the Jim Ridler Bursary for the circuit season 2026. I realise how lucky I am to have received this as I was not yet old enough to be taking part in the national championship races, but after racing in the European Junior Cycling Tour of Assen (Netherlands) over the summer of 2025 I have shown how keen and enthusiastic I am to progress my cycling.

The 2026 road/ circuit season has been an exciting one, I won 5 out of the 7 races that I took part in, coming second in the other two races meaning I won the league for the under 12 category which I was really pleased with.

One of my favourite events of the year was taking part in the Good Friday Easter Classic race at Castle Coombe motor racing circuit in Wiltshire. The race sees riders race around the 3km (9m wide) flat circuit which is open to all weathers. It was a horrible, grey wet and windy day. After getting boxed in on the second lap I decided to drop back in order to try and go around the large pack of riders that had formed before working my way to the front of the pack. In doing so however, I found myself riding off the front of the group, with no one chasing after me I rode two laps solo finishing with around a 25 second gap back to the main group.

Aswell as the west midlands league, I took part in the Lawford Youth Series at Curborough sprint course in Lichfield. A series of four crit races around the race track, I had some fun at these races, winning all four that I took part in meaning I won the under 12’s open category. For two of the races I decided to try and speed things up a bit and road the race TT style leading from the front as none of the other riders went with me.

In June I took part in the British Schools Cycling Association hill climb championships, winning my age category. Although we race under our school’s name we ride in our club kits. A tough TT style race in the warm weather, straight up the hill, and it was good to see some other Stratford riders doing well across the age categories.

I finished off the season by taking part in the European Junior Cycling Tour of Assen (Netherlands) over the summer holidays. The series consists of five days of racing in and around Assen including three road/ circuit races around very different routes, an individual time trial and a hill climb up the famous Col du Vam/ VAM-berg hill. Unfortunately, I was caught up in a crash on the final day of racing, sustaining some nasty injuries meaning I was unable to finish the weeks racing. I was really upset by this but feel I have taken away some good lessons in bunch riding and that you can’t always be in control of other riders around you.

The improvement in my cycling has also helped in my triathlon racing. I was lucky enough to get selected for the West Midlands Junior Triathlon team again this year, competing in a range of regional races as well as the inter-regional championships at Mallory Race Track against teams from all over the country. After winning all five league races that I took part in, this meant I won the TS2 west midlands triathlon series after gaining maximum points and I am really grateful for all the help the Stratford coaches have given me to enable me to use my cycling skills across different racing disciplines.

Thank you once again for the support from Stratford Cycling club in receiving the bursary, it has really helped towards some of the travelling costs and race entry for the season and I am now looking forward to preparing for the cyclocross season ahead. I am moving up into the under 14’s age category so looking forward to some longer more technical races as well as the chance to race in the national series races to experience racing against riders from all over the country.

Issac

I had a season of learning doing national level mountain biking. I started the season with a DNF and a trip to the medical tent and a new helmet as this saved me from a tree. This didn't stop me and the next few events went much more in my favour. The second round was at Cannock Chase and I was in my element here as I enjoyed the technical elements and the sweeping berms.

I finished the series in 26th place which as a first year under 14 I was happy with. This year has been a learning experience for me and I have learnt so much to take into my second year at under 14 level and can hit the ground running for the cyclocross season.

I spent a lot of the latter part of the summer practicing techniques and learning from friends and coaches to help with all the skills needed for mountain biking. The last event of my mountain bike season was the Newbold Dash at Newbold Comyn on Saturday 19th September where I came 14th overall out of all 207 riders and 8th in my age category (12-15yrs) and just 4 seconds off the overall winning time.