Cycle speedway club awarded national championships

Gary Baker on 13/12/2006

A SMALL cycle speedway club have shown that size certainly does not matter when it comes to getting big events.

Because East Newport, based on the Underwood estate, have astonishingly been awarded national championships just one year after they were formed.

The club have just 25 members, compete in the National and Midlands League but have their own website www.freewebs.com/pedalheads and use a track near the local school for matches.
And now they are staging the 2007 Home Internationals after being awarded it by British Cycling Federation.

Club secretary Rob Absalom thought it was a joke when the envelope containing the news dropped on his doormat.

He said: "We applied for three events next year. We hoped to get one of the first two we wanted which was the Under-19s individual championships and the Under-13s team. We just put the Home Internationals as a third choice but didn't expect to get anywhere near it.

"Then I got the letter saying we had it and I couldn't believe it. My first thought was that they put the wrong address on the envelope or something.

"Now we know we have got it, we are gearing up and hoping to get sponsors. It's being held on June 30."

This is only the second year that the club have been in existence and, to land the match between Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland at senior level is an incredible coup.

And it just shows what can be done with a bit of audacity and luck in sport.

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