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Meet Our Newest Recruit - Ava Brown
16 year old Ava Brown has been attending our RACE classes for just over a year and we’re so impressed with her ability, we’ve recruited her to ride with Ed, Graham & Ali as part of the Clancy Briggs Team. She will now be coached by Clancy Briggs and she’s also going to be coaching a little bit herself as she’ll help out with the little ones at the Saturday morning sessions.
Ava’s experience on a bike started way before she joined us on the track. She’s been BMX racing since she was just 9 years old, has two British titles to her name from BMX racing in 2018 and 2019 and was placed sixth in the Europeans in 2018.
When she was little, Ava’s Dad encouraged her to start cycling but suggested she looked for something off the road for safety reasons, so after a quick Google she tried BMX racing down at a local track and stuck with it. When one of her BMX coaches recently suggested she try other disciplines, she found herself at the Doncaster Cycle Track at a Clancy Briggs session:
“To be honest, I had no intention of being any good at Road, it was more of a stamina thing for my BMX to help with the fitness for the laps that we do. But I loved it so much, I just carried on and have gradually improved and stuck with it.”
Clancy Briggs Co-Founder, Graham Briggs, sees lots of potential for her future cycling career:
“With Ava, it’s really a case of fortuitous timing. She’s at a point where she’s looking to diversify her riding and we felt that we couldn’t not help a young, talented, multi-discipline athlete. We’re delighted that we’ve been able to secure support for Ava from our brilliant Clancy Briggs sponsors - Condor has provided her with a new bike and she’s had new wheels from Hope and shoes and a helmet from Madison. So she’s really set up brilliantly now to maximise her potential”.
And Ava can hardly contain her excitement as she describes what it was like to get her new bike:
“The first night after I got the new bike I kept it in my bedroom, I just got so excited, I couldn’t help it. It’s a bit of a tradition for me as I’ve always done that - when I got a new BMX I did that too. My parents have been embarrassing me by telling everyone though, so I’ve moved it now!”
Ava's new Clancy Briggs bike from Condor with Hope wheels
Bringing Ava into the fold is just the first step towards establishing a Clancy Briggs Development Team. Graham explains more:
“We’ve been looking at how we can support racers further through the academy and we’re hopeful that in 2022 we’ll be able to put together a team to allow us to do this for a number of riders - but we’re still in the early stages of securing the necessary support for this. The situation with Ava is slightly different, the development team is not yet up and running but the link with our sponsors meant we were in a position to support her just when she needed it.”
So how does Ava feel about her new role as part of the Clancy Briggs family?
“I feel so very lucky. It amazes me that I’ve been invited to be a part of the Clancy Briggs Team. It’s a shock but such a privilege to be working with Ed, Graham & Ali. They’re all so lovely and they’ve made me feel so welcome. It’s so weird because I used to watch Ed at the Olympics and now I get to work as part of his team.”
What Next?
Find out more about Clancy Briggs RACE Classes
