Talking of emerging talent, Sarah Tait of the Clydesdale Colts is a name that immediately stands out.
Sarah, alongside her club mate Nathan Jackson, is the reigning British Champion and earlier this month became the first ever Scottish female rider to compete at the UCI Trials World Youth Games in Catalonia, and is aiming to make the European and World Junior Championships later this year.
Speaking out the groundbreaking event at Clyde Cycle Park, where a trials area will form part of what is shaping up to be a real cycling hub in the West of Scotland, Sarah was quick to highlight trials’ growth.
“It’s great for me to go to the Worlds, but it’s also great to see how many more girls are getting into the sport and seeing how much is possible for the best females in the world.
Her club, Clydesdale Colts, are leading the way in trials, with five of the eleven-strong GB team at the World Youth Games, coming from the Lanarkshire club. Sarah was joined Joshua Hanlon, Innes Milne, Campbell Milne and the aforementioned Jackson in Catalonia.
The Go-Ride Club have also seen big growth in their girl’s participation with nearly 20% of their trials sessions made up by girls. A huge part of the growth in female participation has been down to Sarah, now also a coach at the Colts, providing a visual reference point for the younger girls in the club:
“Sometimes when I’m coaching – just to see the younger girls trying stuff that when I was younger, I never would have thought was possible at that age – I just love seeing how the sport is progressing, and I understand how much having an older female role model means.”
That’s a sentiment shared by Head Coach David Johnstone:
“The key is you cannot be what you cannot see. Rab Wardell said that to me years ago and it has stayed with me ever since.”
“Ambassadors for girls so important. Sarah is now making it possible, and they can visualise that they can do it.”
Sarah is now a British Cycling Activity Coach, having progressed through the Introduction to Coaching course – one of seven coaches at the Colts delivering sessions.
“Coaches like David have helped me to push on and inspired me. I learnt so much going through the coaching course, and it was great to interact with other people and hear their perspectives.
“As a coach I just want to keep progressing and see more riders coming into the sport – I hope the sport keeps growing as it is.”
While clearly a discipline in its own right, trials training is excellent cross training for other disciplines too, Colts-graduate and now Great Britain Cycling Team performance rider Daisy Taylor one of a number of riders to make the most of it.
As for Sarah, her own aims are pretty clear.
“As a rider I’d love to be the first British female to compete in the Women’s Elite category at the World Championships. That’s never happened before.”
What a feat that would be.