At Halesowen thanks to our ownership of our own velodrome and our broad coaching programme we have a long history of producing talented young bike riders on road and track, many of whom have gone on to race at national and international level. Our academy is now in its 10th year, catering for young riders up to 23
Founded in 2015, the Halesowen Academy aims to support the juniors and under-23 riders who come up through our coaching system with two things: a structure which will enable them to pursue their ambitions to become the best they can be coupled with the wider support and sense of community that only an old-school cycling club can provide. We also welcome applications from riders outside the club.
The academy provides its riders with a limited support package - mainly nutrition and clothing - and aims to provide racing opportunities to further our riders’ development while giving them enjoyable shared peer group experiences. We have been proud to have GB road racing coach and JLT-Condor directeur sportif John Herety as our patron since 2019.
We also offer links to a range of coaches with professional cycling experience who can advise our riders and we have links with cycling specialists in areas such as nutrition, physiotherapy and injury rehab. The academy also supports individual team riders who make a convincing case for backing which will further their career racing goals.
For 2025 the academy would welcome applications from both Halesowen members and riders outside the club. We are particularly interested in expanding the women’s arm of the academy. Riders must demonstrate strong racing credentials (examples available on request) and a coherent written plan for the next stage of their cycling career which must be presented to the Halesowen cycling club chair, Dave Viner. The criteria for joining the academy are below.
For more information contact:
William Fotheringham
william.fotheringham@guardian.co.uk
Key dates for 2024:
24 March Halesowen Academy road race, Aston on Clun
12 May Halesowen A & CC road race, Astley
21-23 June BikeStow 3-day, Shropshire & Herefordshire & Powys
1 September Nick Clayton Memorial RR, Astley
Halesowen Academy Team - 2024
Ryan Brookes – a long standing member of Halesowen, Ryan is a third year under-23, a track specialist who is looking to break through in the national series this year.
Joe Egan – Joe joins us as a second-year under-16 who has come through the Halesowen coaching system and excels at cross, circuit and track.
Patrick Fotheringham - A Halesowen member since 2008, Patrick has come right up through the club’s youth system via Regional Schools of Racing and Youth Omniums, winning circuit events as an under-16 and managing top-10 places in 2/3/4 events and a National A event against elite riders in his second year as a junior. A regular winner thanks to his strong sprint, he is now the team’s elder statesman, with a brief to mentor
the younger riders; his 2023 highlights included 3rd place in stage one of the BikeStow 3-day, and successfully completing Ras Tailteann with a best stage place of 21st.
Charlie Genner – Charlie joined us in 2020 but barely raced due to the pandemic, then moved abroad with Zappi and a team in Galicia. He raced as a guest for us to win the Newry 3-day in 2022 and joined up again for 2023, winning the Paramount Summer road race, completing Ras Tailteann and finishing 7th in a tough round of the National under-23 series.
Luke Harris – one of the best young riders Halesowen has produced, Luke took a break from racing and returned to us for 2023 as a second year junior. He has a wealth of experience at cross, circuit and track behind him, and put that to good use in 2023 taking fifth at a stage of the Junior Tour of Ireland and winning the national junior gravel championship – a stripy jumper!
Hudson Hendry – in 2023 Hudson managed a fine silver medal in the U16 pursuit national championship, and two circuit race wins, along with a win in a round of the Icebreaker omnium, and a fourth place in a Regional A crit against senior riders; he’s a versatile, fast moving lad who joins us as a first year junior in 2024.
Kaleb Herbert – Kaleb joined us from Wyre Forest as a first year junior in 2023 and successfully gained his second cat licence, finishing the junior Tour of Ireland.
Isaak Herbert – Isaak is Kaleb’s fellow triplet, hopefully they will be our answer to the Yates brothers! Like Kaleb, Isaak put in some good road race rides in 2023, notably completing the Junior Tour.
Joe Homer – Joe is a versatile second-year under-23 who rides strongly on the track, in time trials and at cyclo-cross, finishing 6th in this winters West Mids league. In 2022, along with Patrick, he rode out of his skin to clinch Charlie Genner’s win in Newry.
Rose Lewis – our youngest member to date. The winner of the National U14 cyclo cross series over winter 2022-23, Rose was fast-tracked into the academy in summer 2022 due to her exceptional ability. She landed medals at four national championship disciplines in 2023 – circuit, cyclo-cross, mountain bike and omnium – and can be expected to shine in her first year as an under-16 in 2024.
Piers Mahn – a first year u23 in 2024, Piers joins us from Mid Devon RC; relatively new to bike racing, he did however achieve something quite rare, landing a road race win in his first year, with victory in the Gillingham CC race.
Luke Mannings – another long-standing Halesowen member, Luke is a versatile second-year junior who came close to the win several times, completed the Tour of Ireland and ended the season as West Midlands junior road race champion.
Aaron Mansell – Aaron joined in 2022 from ProVision RT with a season’s
experience in road racing behind him; he rode superbly throughout the season to get his second cat licence and come close to the win in several road races. In 2023 he finished fourth at the Newry 3-day in spite of a heavy crash, and rode out of his skin in the region’s cyclo-crosses.
Ryan Oldfield – Ryan joins us as a first year junior in 2024 after a stellar 2023 in which he took national championship medals at sprint and madison, and won the interregional championship road race. He was a prolific winner on the track, taking the Derby League, and ended up ranked 8th U16 in the country.
Ryu Roberts-Hayamizu – a second year junior from South Wales, Ryu joins us from Ribble. He rode strongly for his national team in their national Junior Tour in 2023, and managed a fifth place in the national junior series race at Hatherleigh as well as putting in some strong rides in the Welsh jersey on the track.
Rowan Schaack – a second year under-23 this year, Rowan rode strongly in 2023 in spite of time out for A-levels, completing the Ras Mumhan in 31st place, and easily retaining his second cat licence. A big 2024 beckons.
Will Simons – Will is our “road captain” during training rides, and is as at home on the road and track as he is at cyclo-cross; he improved fast in 2021 and 2022, finishing strongly in the Junior Tour of Ireland, and was showing well in local races in 2023 until a heavy crash in June ended his season.
Halesowen Academy Sponsors
While our main sponsor Mapei need no introduction, we have several other important supporters, with valued relationships going back up to 10 years in one case. We welcome for a second season Fleur au Soleil gite, which is owned by racer Mark Northover, once a regular at Halesowen Track League. ProVision clothing return for a 10th season – they have been with us since year one for which we would like to express our thanks, while nutrition is again supplied by Secret Training; there is additional support from Colmore Partners financial planners, and auto services firm Aldon Automotive as well as Ludlow deli, Broad Bean - who have been voted the best deli in the UK several times. Fenwick’s provide bike care for a third year, while Wenlock Spring water support us for the sixth year running and we enter a 3rd year of being backed by Swinnerton Cycles, one of the country’s oldest and most dynamic bike shops, family owned for over a century. These companies’ stalwart backing should enable us to offer our riders an enhanced programme on and off their bikes, and we would like to give them our since thanks. Our juniors have also enjoyed the support of the Dave Rayner Foundation through their gateway programme.
www.fleurausoleilgiteholidays.com
Academy selection criteria
1/ Member of HACC in season prior to joining, or previous member. Or prior links with the club through being coached by a club member and recommended by that member or having ridden as a guest with a club/academy team. Applications by riders outside these criteria will be considered but those admitted must meet other criteria in this list, and should not be accepted ahead of HACC members who meet those criteria.
2/ Proven commitment to racing over the long-term. Stated commitment to racing in the year ahead. Riders who do not meet these criteria (who may have had time out for some reason) may be asked to go through a probationary period until they have ridden a set number of events. Potential riders will be assessed not merely through results but through improvement curve, proven commitment to the club, “teamship” etc, also parents’ commitment to the club.
3/ Riders will be junior to final year under-23. Normally riders in under-16 category will not be accepted although this exceptionally may be waived if the rider in question has demonstrated exceptional ability.
4/ The academy coach may decide that exceptional circumstances apply, for example if the academy is founding a section targeted at certain categories or disciplines e.g. a women’s arm, a specialist cyclo-cross arm.
5/ The academy may draft in riders as guests for stage races, to complete the complement for a team, offered to
i/ second-claim members of HACC
ii/ former academy members
iii/ former HACC members
iv/ riders who have applied to have HACC academy membership in the following season
v/ riders who have successfully guested in the past
6/ Those involved in the decisions regarding academy membership will be the coach, patron, HACC Cycling Section chair and vice chair. The coach will explain the reasons for accepting potential members with the other three before a final decision is made by the chair, vice-chair and patron.
Halesowen Academy History
In year one, 2015, the academy had just four riders and in 2016 we expanded to eight, who won 19 races between them, with six of them managing to cross the line first. The stand-out performance was Charles Walker’s overall win in the five-day Ras de Cymru, with Jack Stanton-Warren and Tom Swingler eighth and ninth.
For 2017, Charles moved up to Catford CC Banks, while Jack took on a leadership role, gaining his elite licence, with two wins in National B races - in successive days on the same weekend - and finishing in 8th overall in the Tour of the North 3-Day in Northern Ireland. He moved up to Wheelbase Castelli at the end of the season.
In 2018 the team landed nine wins in road races and criterium with five of the seven members crossing the line first, highlighted by Cam Biddle taking a very narrow victory in our own Halesowen road race. The stand-out race was the Giro del Mon where Matt Clarke and Charles Walker (riding as a guest) finished 1-2 on stage four, with Charlie winning the points jersey overall and wearing the yellow jersey on the final stage.
Clarkie and Cam Biddle both moved up to bigger teams, joining Wheelbase-Castelli and Morvelo Basso respectively. Later in the season we were joined by cyclo-crossers Simon Wyllie and David Hird, with Simon winning a round of the West Mids league against seniors and a round of the GB junior series, while David won the West Mids junior league overall.
In 2019 the team became younger than ever, and also bigger than ever, with 12 riders including seven juniors and one under-16. The juniors included national under-16 cyclocross champion Wyllie, and there were three women on the squad including Great Britain team apprentice Kinga Ingram, and promising first-year senior Hannah Lancaster. Highlights of the season were wins for Kinga at the national U16 scratch championship and Patrick Fotheringham at the first stage of the Newry 3-Day, earning the yellow jersey for a day, while we took six riders to the Junior Tour of Ireland and most importantly finished all six, with Josh Field best placed in 24th. At the West Midlands Region championship, Henry Lloyd-Langston took the junior title; Hannah Lancaster rode strongly in the women’s team series, and at the end of the year, both Kinga and Hannah moved up to elite teams.
There was a major development in 2020 when iconic World Tour sponsor Mapei proposed sponsorship of the Halesowen club, and the upshot was the current academy jersey which reflects the Italian company’s strong cycling heritage, featuring its dramatic “cube” design. The jersey earned us national and international coverage, with newspapers in Belgium and Italy excited at the prospect of the “cubes” returning to cycling. Unfortunately, a global pandemic turned up, and the jersey was rarely seen in action.
We ran our own road race in 2019 and this returned in 2021, a round of the West Midlands Road Race League. The race was named the Nick Clayton Memorial Grand Prix, in honour of Nick, an academy member from 2016-17 who sadly passed away on 10 May that year following complications from blood cancer. His passing was marked with a minute’s silence at the HACC annual road race on May 16. Since then, the Nick Clayton Memorial has become an annual event, with a unique trophy won by Travis Bramley in 2021, Daniel Barnes in 2022 and Matt Clarke in 2023.
Nick Clayton, R.I.P.
In 2021 racing returned in the second half of the season, with three standout academy performers: Simon Wyllie, David Hird and Tomos Pattinson. Simon raced strongly on the road and in circuit races and snagged himself a deal to ride with the Spectra-Wiggle team by August. David was unstoppable from April through to October, winning one race and placing in virtually everything else, earning his first-category licence by July. He went on to place 25th in the Beaumont Trophy Premier Calendar race and 37th in the National championships at Lincoln, the only club rider among a finishing echelon composed entirely of WorldTour, Conti or Conti Development riders. For 2022 he moved up to the Bikestrong-KTM squad; he is now with Cycling Sheffield.
Tom, meanwhile, rode strongly in the U16 National Series, winning the Scarborough round, and added medals at the national championships in Madison, points race and circuit. The highlight, probably, was his victory in the Junior category at the national hill-climb championship, a stunning performance for a rider who was still technically an under-16!
Tom went on to a stellar first year as a junior in 2022, winning a stage of the Junior Tour of Ireland and placing fourth at junior Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He moved to the Tofauti team in 2023 and after a fantastic year there including winning Liège and riding the world championships in Glasgow; he is now at the Visma-Lease a Bike under-23 team, the first of our former riders to move into the WorldTour.
2022 was also a breakthrough year for Joe Brookes, who joined up in late 2021. Joe posted one of the most rapid improvement trajectories seen in recent UK cycling over the next two seasons, going from novice road racer to top 10 in a National Elite series race by September 2023. Joe’s first win was the Two Counties 3/4 race in April 2022, and he went on to place second on a stage at the Junior Tour of Ireland before closing his junior career with 3rd on stage one and 10th overall at the Philippe Gilbert Juniors UCI race in Belgium, with Tom placing sixth on stage two and 6th overall.
2023 saw Joe continue to progress dramatically, winning the Halesowen Academy road race in March, placing 15th at the tough Ras Mumhan in Ireland and returning from A levels to snaffle 3 of four stages at the BikeStow 3-day. He followed that with a win at the Andrews Trophy Nat B in Essex and travelled to France to win an Elite Nationale race at Fougerolles du Plessis.
His debut in the National Series at Ryedale saw him get in the break and finish 11th – still a few days shy of his 19th birthday - and he went even better at Beaumont, taking eighth, after again making the winning break. For 2024 he rides for the AVC Aix team in Southern France, the first of our former riders to make a move of this kind.
Another headline result was Luke Harris’s national junior gravel racing title, while other highlights include getting all five starters round the Ras Tailteann, with guest rider Ben Chilton 14th overall; similarly finishing all five riders at the Junior Tour of Ireland, with Luke Harris’s fifth on stage one the highlight, and a successful return to the Philippe Gilbert with guest rider Ollie Boarer taking eighth on stage two and three riders finishing.
Some of the HACC members who have gone on to race at national and international level
Jess Varnish, former GB sprint team member
Helen Scott, double London Paralympic medallist piloting Aileen McGlynn
Callum Ferguson and Charles Walker team members Catford-Banks under-23 UK Elite team
Jacob Tipper, current member Brother NRG team + national team pursuit champion
Emily Kay and Emily Nelson, junior world champions in 2013 and current members of GB cycling team
Beth Crumpton, former elite national mountain bike series champion, currently riding with Team Storey