Aaron H from East London, he gave up going to Everest base camp to be in Wales!

Ben, from Surrey, top man

Nhia from Wolverhampton, she’s a natural

8 teenagers in Wales, most of them fell off bikes at some point, they got covered in mud and felt exhausted after riding up some steep hills and getting some intensive MTB coaching.  But after three days they were all still smiling.   They were all fantastic and most were taking jumps and getting air easily by day 2 after they mastered the ‘pump’.  The coaches were seriously impressed and we definitely found some new talent from the cities.

Three of our stars won jump bikes in recognition of their massive efforts – congratulations to Nhia, Ben and Aaron H.

Serious respect to everyone – King Kenny, Charlotte, Aaron S, Evie, Tommy – you were all fantastic, thanks for coming to the first Calypso Sports Anywhere MTB Academy.  We hope to see you up at Llandegla again.

The team

The Calypso mountain bike academy is in full flow this week as eight teenagers from all over the UK arrived in North Wales to join us up at the Llandegla Forest trails.  So far so good, everybody is watching awesome pro rider and coach Neil ‘the don’ Donoghue as he shows them how its done.  The sun is even shining!

Last year, Britains’ potential mountain bike stars of the future showed up in droves as hundreds of kids tried their hand at mountain biking (MTB) on the Calypso MTB Anywhere Tour.  And it was all done in schools without the need for mountains, mud or steep descents.

Now eight young people will head to the Welsh mountains to attend an ‘all expenses’ paid trip to a special Mountain Bike Academy.   Here the hand picked youngsters from all over the UK will learn to ride under the tutelage of top mountain biking coaches.  The Academy trip takes place this Easter and is made possible by Calypso soft drinks.

These potential MTB stars of the future were selected from thousands of contenders, to win a place at the MTB Academy.  They displayed the most potential talent during an MTB coaching campaign held in schools last year. The winning students will now get to meet some of the UK’s top British mountain bikers and get a real taste of the mountains and the ‘downhill’ rider lifestyle.

Great Britain has more top elite male riders in the World UCI Top 30 rankings than any other country.  Britain also has three British women in the top 10 UCI womens downhill championship including the world’s No.1 Tracey Moseley; and the Junior World Champion Manon Carpenter.

MTB’s industry body, the CTC, is searching for more junior riders to ensure Britain has a continued significant presence on the world stage.   British Downhill Champion and Calypso Academy coach, Neil ‘the Don’ Donoghue comments, “British riders do very well at International and British MTB Championships and we want to grow an even bigger pool of British talent for the future.  This is why we have joined the Calypso MTB Anywhere campaign to get out there and find it.”

This week the Calypso MTB Anywhere team paid a visit to sunny Havering, by Essex.  Redden Court School and Gaynes School played host despite the teachers strikes which hit many other schools across the UK.  Anthony Henry from Redden Court School said “I would like to thank the calypso team for all their help during the mountain bike event. Our students loved this variety in their PE lesson and really enjoyed the expertise of the friendly and informative instructors. Since the event the students have been pestering about when the calypso team will return. Thanks again for a thoroughly enjoyable day!!!”

The coaches reported that loads of kids who hadn’t signed the parental permission forms and therefore couldn’t take part were ‘well jel’.  We are finding this at most of the events, so listen up kids.  Our event is not just normal boring biking – this is something ‘totally ream’, so if you want to try it out, then get your mum or dad to sign the forms first.   You’ve been warned!

So here’s how it works – our coaching team are spotting top talent as they travel around the UK with the Calypso Sports Anywhere MTB campaign,  coaching kids in schools on the basics of mountain biking.  When they see young people who show real potential, these names are going onto a special list.   At the end of the year (after we’ve been to loads of schools) the coaches will pick ten of you and then we’ll get in touch with your schools and parents to see if you can come for a trip of a lifetime.

We did the same for surfing and took 10 winners to a Calypso Surf Academy down in Cornwall and it was the best week ever for some kids – many of whom had never even been to a British beach before.