Newport Cycling Club has recently secured a two year sponsorship deal with a Stafford based company, Ashley Insurance. The company specialises in insurance for owners of prestige cars, such as Porsche and Mercedes. The company’s connection with the club came about by chance. Ashley Insurance owner Graham Cook met riders from the club on a cycling trip to Italy a couple of years ago.
Club Chairman Nick Jeggo said "A group of us met Graham on a cycling trip to Riccione and it turned out that he was only from Penkridge. A week later, Graham joined the club and he’s been a big part of club activities ever since. The nice thing is that Graham is a ‘hands-on’ sponsor. He’s happy to help marshall, he comes on club runs and attends club events and social occasions."
The club is hoping to use much of the funds to continue the development of it’s Youth Academy. Mr Jeggo went on "Some sponsored clubs use sponsorship just to provide free clothing. We don’t want to do that. We want it to be sustainable, with proper members, not just people who are after free kit. We’re going to use the the money to benefit the club as a whole, but with an emphasis on bringing novices, young and old, into the sport."
Newport CC has seen a huge rise in membership recently and has also increased the number of events it promotes. The recent cyclo-cross event at Newport Rugby Club was one example, with almost 200 people taking part. This year the club has plans to promote time trials, road races, a duathlon, a reliability trial and a hill climb, with other new events still to be announced.
For more details about Newport Cycling Club contact Des McKeown on 01952 813264 or go to www.newportshropshirecc.org.uk
