Olympic dreams
Date published: 09 November 2009
WITH the London Olympics less than 1,000 days away, the Chronicle will be turning the spotlight on local sportsmen and women who could make the Great Britain team. In the first of a series of countdown features, JANICE BARKER talks to four medal hopefuls.
AS the clock ticks down from 1,000 days to the London 2012 Olympics, Oldham is nurturing young sportsmen and women who have their eyes on the starting line.
Here we feature three swimmers and a cyclist who are among Oldham’s Olympic hopefuls, all fired with a keen ambition to make it to London 2012.
Cyclist Jake Ragan, from Denshaw, a Saddleworth School pupil, is a member of the SportCity-Velo club based at Manchester’s Velodrome.
Jake’s speciality is road and track cycling and he competes at national level.
Aged 14, he has already won the under-14s National Road Series championship, over 10 road races, and Track Omnium championship.
Jake’s ambition to represent Great Britain in 2012 has just been given a major boost — he has been chosen for cycling Olympic Talent Team, one of only 30 elite riders aged under 16 from up and down the country.
Swimmer Blake Wilson (17), from Chadderton, has competed in the open age British Championships this year and also the national championships at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.
His best event is the 100 metres breast stroke, and he has trained with Oldham Aquatics for the past four years.
Blake, who left South Chadderton School for Oldham Sixth Form College, now puts in more than eight sessions a week at Oldham Sports Centre.
His successes include winning the schools’ national championships 100 metres two years ago, and representing England at the WISE (Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England) International at Crawley, gaining a first and third, last year.
He said: “My ambition is to go to the London Olympics, that’s what all the training is aimed at.”
Crompton House School pupil Vicky Garlick (15) specialises in 200 and 400 metres freestyle, and swam in the English Schools games last year and the UK Schools Games this year, representing England Central when she was part of the winning 200 metre team.
Vicky, from Milnrow, used to swim for Oldham Aquatics, although she now trains at Manchester Aquatics.
Competing at national level, she came fourth in the 1500 metres freestyle at Ponds Forge in the 14/15 age category this year.
The Olympics are at the forefront of her mind, and she added: “I just want to go as far as I can.”
Fellow swimmer Jess Lloyd, from Saddleworth School, is also a former Oldham Aquatics member, now with Manchester Aquatics.
Jess (14) also competes in the 100 metres freestyle and is already a gold medallist — winning at the UK Schools Games in Swansea this year, having won the 50 metres freestyle last year when they were held in London.
She also took two bronze and a silver at the national championships at Ponds Forge.
Jess, from Diggle, is aiming to be an Olympic qualifier and added: “At the moment I just train my hardest and give 100 per cent. I try and put the Olympics to the back of my mind because that is a lot of pressure.”
Partnerships spread the Olympic values
Counthill and Failsworth School Sports Partnerships are working together to embed the Olympic values in their pupils.
Failsworth School and Oldham Sixth Form College have been awarded the Oympics’s education logo for their part in this work.
Failsworth is sponsoring Paralympian cyclist and swimmer Jody Cundy, and the college is using the Olympics to encourage more people to take part in sport, with alternative and niche sporting activities.
Vicky Dean, development manager of Failsworth School Sport Partnerships, said: “The Olympics in 2012 give young people the opportunity to be inspired to achieve their potential in PE and sport and be more physically active.
“Oldham has a lot of talented people who can raise the aspirations of other young people to be the best they can be.
“The school sport partnerships are creating more opportunities for young people to participate, compete and progress through positive structured activities, and working in conjunction with Integrated Youth Services, young people are also accessing high quality opportunities in the community.”
