Jamie Staff helps out with the sprint challenge
On the 16/17/18th of July we attended the Kent county show, a massive event with many thousands of visitors. Cycles UK were on the KCC stand in a large marquee along with British Cycling and Cyclo Park a massive cycling complex which is to be built in the Gravesend area.
British Cycling brought along three Wattbikes and a large plasma screen and special guest was Jamie Staff British Olympic Sprint gold medalist and pro BMX rider. Jamie was with us for the first two days and set a time on the Wattbike for a 250 meter sprint which the public could then try to beat.The fastest time would win a £1000 Raleigh Airlite 400 Donated by Cycles Uk along with various other prizes and giveaways. The competition created a massive amount of interest with hundreds of people trying their luck from all walks of life, young children to OAP’s!
Jamie Staff sets the time to beat
On the first day Jamie who had flown in from California where he now lives and works as a coach set a fantastic time of 12.44 seconds for the 250 meter sprint and the competition was on! The sprint requires an explosive effort where you go all out for 15 to 20 seconds and some very fast times were being set in the 13 to 15 second bracket, then came along Fireman Mike Piper who had a blistering sprint and set a time of 12.71 seconds with Jamie cheering him on, a fantastic time and one that stood until the last day!
On day three along came Pat Sykes a rugby player from Dover, over six feet tall and looking very fit. We new he would post a good time but we were in for a shock! After a massive effort with the whole crowd cheering him on he recorded a time of 12.22 seconds beating Olympic champion Jamies time and surely the winner? Another shock was to come, our very own Carl Alexandre from Maidstone who wandered in with his family and was persuaded to have a go. Carl put a massive effort in and recorded a stunning time of 12.33 again beating Olympic champion Jamies time but not quite taking top spot (he wouldn’t have been allowed to win the bike) well done Carl!
Jamie Staff's time of 12.44 seconds is beaten by Pat Sykes
With the show drawing to a close Pat came back to see if he could improve on his time knowing he had won the bike, he had two attempts but couldn’t quite match his winning time, a very happy chap though and perfect timing as he is looking to get into triathlons and needed a bike, another convert to our sport, fantastic
All in all a brilliant weekend with lot’s of exposure for Cycles UK and cycling in general.