A Kent man won a £950 bike by beating an Olympic gold medallist at the Kent County Show on Sunday. Jamie Staff MBE, Olympian, World BMX champion and Cyclopark’s champion, posed a challenge for visitors to this weekend’s Kent County Show. He set a time of 12.44 seconds for a 250m cycle sprint and called for visitors to beat that time on a stationary bike hooked up to an electronic cycling track on a screen in front. The stand was hosted by Kent County Council and supported by British Cycling, Cycles UK and the Kent Thameside Regeneration Partnership. Hundreds of contestants accepted the challenge, and their sprint times were kept on a magnetic score board. Lots of them won cycling accessories from Cycles UK, who also handed over a brand new Raleigh Airlite 400 to Pat Sykes, who – at 12.22 seconds – actually managed to beat Jamie’s time. He even returned to the stand later in the day to try to beat his own time.
Cyclopark is the innovative park set to bring first class cycling, running and extreme sports facilities to North Kent and the project team is delighted that its champion took part in the Kent County Show. The park will be one of the leading multi sport centres in the south of England and Jamie Staff hopes to develop a ‘Jamie Staff Academy’ on-site for young people to develop their talent. When completed in 2012, Cyclopark will offer an exciting range of activities for everyone from the enthusiastic beginner right up to the seasoned professional. Set within 43 hectares of landscaped parkland and with a 340m BMX racetrack, a skate park and a 2.9km circuit track for cycling and running, Cyclopark really will be a unique activity venue.
The Cyclopark project team decided that the Kent County Show was the perfect opportunity to spread the word in Kent about Cyclopark. They manned a stand to provide visual displays of design plans, as well as information about Cyclopark and cycling in Kent generally.
Cyclopark is funded by Kent County Council, British Cycling, and the Homes and Communities Agency and the project forms a key part in the regeneration of Kent Thameside which is lead by Kent Thameside Regeneration Partnership (KTRP). This public private partnership supports and champions the regeneration of Kent Thameside, a hub for innovation and one of the fastest growing areas in the UK covering the boroughs of Dartford and Gravesham and Ebbsfleet Valley. With a commitment to provide 25,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs over the next two decades, KTRP will make Kent Thameside a distinct and vibrant destination.
Jamie Staff MBE, says; “I’m delighted and privileged to have represented Cyclopark at the Kent County Show and thoroughly enjoyed meeting my challengers – there were plenty of them! Cycling is such a great way to keep fit and I support any initiative to promote the sport. It was fantastic to see so many local people of all ages taking up the chance to beat me at my own game!”
Laurence Tricker, Cyclopark’s project manager, says; “Cyclopark is a unique and really exciting project and it fits perfectly within the massive regeneration of Kent Thameside. It was brilliant to see everyone get excited about the challenge and entertaining to watch them try to beat Jamie! We worked closely with all of our partners including Jamie Staff, British Cycling and Cycles UK to ensure that visitors to the Kent County Show thoroughly enjoyed themselves while finding out more about Cyclopark, which will be a centre of excellence for the cycling world, and more importantly, a ‘must see’ for visitors to North Kent.”