The Oaklands Wolves Cycling Academy was the first of its kind when it was founded in 2016.
It sits alongside seven other academies at Oaklands College in Hertfordshire and it allows aspiring cyclists from all over the UK to train optimally every day whilst gaining their years 12 and 13 education.
An academy rider’s life with us in term time: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 9-12:30 Academy Time. Afternoon : Lessons/Study
Wednesdays : All academy time and trips.
cycling@oaklands.ac.uk
An academy rider’s life with us in term time.
Not all riders will train all of the above time every week of course. There are rest weeks and rest days and the healthy balance of study, home life and fun is crucial in nurturing our life long cyclists.”
As we enter our sixth year in existence our unique academy continues to inspire and embellish young riders on their journey to see how good they can become in that time.
The academy experience at Oaklands is very immersive and rewarding for the riders that really want it and want to ensure they are optimising their training time and opportunities. For those that commit to the process it has proven to be massively rewarding both athletically but also in terms of personal growth and education. That said, our experience has also shown us that our unique system is not always easy and also isn’t right for everyone.
If riders want or expect a completely individual plan with everything tailored to them then they will not get that in our academy and riders who expect to be able to dip into and out of the program would also not be right. Riders whose parents, carers or clubs/ coaches are more ambitious than their son or daughter will also, in our experience, often not survive the process.
The riders that succeed are always those who really ‘want it’ themselves and those who are ready to become ‘box tickers’ ensuring all components of the successful athlete are maximised whilst also enjoying the sheer joy of riding their bike in a competitive and supportive environment.
Our model has often been described as like being on a two year training camp with bespoke elements worked into it. It works through ensuring a high level of layered and optimised training alongside rest, rehab, physio, strength and conditioning. This is maintained throughout the process so that the volume and quality achieved is far greater than any other junior rider could possibly do whilst in full time education.
- Jez Cox Head of Cycling
In our six years of existence, these are the impressive stats racked up by our riders whilst in the academy.
160 wins, comprising:
• 68 Cyclo-Cross wins
• 18 MTB XC wins
• 3 National Series MTB wins
• 40 Junior road wins
• 31 Track wins
• 15 Senior wins
Others:
• 8 National Championships (6 Senior, 3 Junior)
• 5 National Silver Medals (Junior)
• 1 National Junior Road Series Win
• 1 National Series Cyclocross Win
• 3 x 6 Day London representation
• 35 National Series/Championship top tens
• Riders racing in : Televised Tour Series, UCI Junior Tours, BC National Senior Series and UCI Nations Cup.
• Great Britain Cycling Team selections : World and European.
• Progression to Elite Enduro at national level.
Our academy pairs further education with full time elite cycling training in order to give riders the best of both worlds by providing every opportunity for riders to reach their cycle racing best, whilst gaining valuable qualifications and experience. In its simplest form, the riders train every morning of the week between 9am and 12:30pm and then study in the afternoon. Wednesday’s are entirely dedicated to the academy.
The academy provides the chance for talented and aspiring riders to progress from the youth ranks right the way through to being a competitive junior and into the senior ranks.
The aim is simple: to help each and every rider develop their physiological capacity and racing brain, to become the best rider they can be without ever falling out of love with the sport.
This is done through a strong team ethic within the group, which trains together every day. Alongside this is a full Physiotherapy and Strength & Conditioning program run by our dedicated cycling-specific Physiotherapy and Strength & Conditioning Lead.
Our home is the lanes and trails of Hertfordshire, as they stretch out from our base in St Albans as well as Gosling Stadium Velodrome (which is booked each week) and Redbridge Cycling Centre which is a key partner of the academy. Riders will continue to race for their own club or team whilst training with the academy, even though the academy has its own kit, sponsors and team ethos. It has strong links with European and UK domestic teams and provides the perfect stepping stone for those good enough to turn pro.
Our Freeride Academy began in September 2022 and already has its first British national champion in Chalie Roy who won the BMX cruiser category as soon as he joined. With coach Will Raymond as head of Freeride, the progression of our first intake of riders has been remarkable. As well as putting them through the same UCI Wattbike testing as our endurance riders in order to track their fitness gains, the improvements made by our S&C team in the gym has seen a big step up for the riders. With riders from across the disciplines, the focus has been progression of key skills while allowing sport specifics to be maximised. These specifics regularly include BMX Start gate practice, manuals, pumping, jumps and a wide range of trail focussed stimuli. With excellent local forest trails right
from our door step the riders are able to get away from it all and mix up their trail experiences. We are also spoilt for choice with a brand-new pump track and dirt jump centre just down the road (St Albans Cycle Hub), a second pump track being built next to our site and now, our very own man made hill and skills tracks on site, right by our Sports Zone. Our freeriders get exactly the same S&C, coaching and physiotherapy support as our endurance riders and the two halves of the academy join up regularly. We don’t just stay local though, with trips to trial centres, BMX Tracks and ride hot spots in order to keep progressing their riding.
Students are expected to engage fully in their studies and there is regular communication with tutors to ensure our students are on track academically. If falling short of expectations, students can bewithdrawn from training. Should you have any questions about the courses available within the academy, a full list of courses can be found online at www.oaklands.ac.uk.
It is an expectation that all students without GCSEs in English and Maths graded at 4 or above will retake English and/or Maths alongside their main programme, as either a GCSE or Functional Skills qualification. This may impact on some training involvement during the week.
The college has an excellent student advice team who can support you with any pastoral needs. There are trained support tutors available in the Learning Resource Centre to support you with
assignment work outside of lessons. We are also able to provide additional learning support for students with particular learning needs, either on a one-to-one basis or through in-class support, as well as support with special exam arrangements and so forth.
We have dedicated student advice teams at both our Welwyn Garden City and St Albans Campuses. They are there to help you with anything at all, whether it relates to your time at college, such as course difficulties, travel issues, attendance right through to more personal issues such as relationships and health issues.
Our Student Advice team offer impartial information and advice by telephone, email or drop-in. This could include referring you for a guidance interview with our team of specialists. We can offer advice at a variety of venues in the local area as well as at our College campuses.
Many of our riders are residential on site with us here and this is the only element of our provision for which there is a cost. As riders come to us from all over the UK this is a vital part of what we do although we are always keen to take in local riders who are able to make their own way to us. Should you wish to apply for residential accommodation at the College, this should be included in the online application when prompted.
Detailed residential application packs will then be distributed for completion and places will be allocated in June. We now have an entirely new residential block on campus (above), which has a very modern and comfortable living design built into it. This opened to students in 2020. Additionally for students from low income families, financial support may be available to support with these costs. For more information and details on costs, call us on 01727 737000.
“Oaklands College was an incredible two years in the development of my riding, allowing me to progress onto the British Cycling MTB Programme. Living at college set me up well for going away on race trips abroad, away from home, where organisation and discipline is really important. The structure of consistent and specific training alongside education cannot be beaten for a 16-18 year old who is looking to develop their riding, achieve racing goals and have great fun with mates.”
Jack came to us as a talented and accomplished cross rider with great potential on the road. During his time with us he transitioned to become one of the best U23/Elite Enduro riders in the country. Helping Jack find his niche and maximise his potential on the trails whilst building him into a more resilient athlete has been a nice stepping stone in the run up to launching our freeride academy.
“It was fun training and studying with likeminded athletes in an environment that really challenged me. The one to one support given by the coaches helped me develop mentally and physically as a rider, helping the transition into junior racing as well as setting me up for U23s. This has allowed me to make the step up to national womens’s races alongside continuing my studies in Sport Science at university.”
Jack Parrish
“The time I spent at Oaklands was great and the progression I made and things I learnt have really helped me progress to the level I am at now. The structure and consistency really developed me as a rider, achieving my goals of racing on the continent. Jez and Leda really pushed me in the right direction if that was time on the bike or off the bike. Since leaving I’ve been living and racing in France on the road and cyclocross scene.” stepping stone in the run up to launching our freeride academy.
The academy was formed and is headed by Jez Cox who is himself a former professional rider and UCI (Cycling) team manager at world cup level. In his racing career jez won over 80 races as well as becoming British number one in Duathlon. Having retired from racing he was chosen to design and implement the cycling legacy plan for the London 2012 games and having done so went on to design and manage all of the cycling programs at Lee Valley VeloPark that are still in place today. Jez is also a Level 3 coach and current Great Britain (Triathlon) Team Manager. Jez is now probably best known for his race commentary as the voice of the Tour Series, Women’s Tour and Tour of Britain bike races in the UK. He is also a regular on Eurosport/GCN’s coverage of the world’s biggest races.
William Raymond was born a two-minute bike ride from the St Albans Campus. He started riding at Welwyn track and had a very successful age group palmares in competition across track racing, road, time-trial and cyclocross. He was a serial regional champion in all these disciplines from the under-12 age group onwards, leading to a call up for the team GB Olympic Development Apprentice squad as an under 16. As a junior he competed extensively on track and road in Belgium and at National level in the UK for the VCL. He came fifth in the London 6 Day under-23 race at 17 years of age. After completing his GCSEs, Will attended Oaklands College for a two-year course in Sports science.
Since 2018 Will has been focussing on progressing as a downhiller and improving his dirt jumping. 2023 will see Will taking on the enduro race scene as well as mixing up downhill and dirt jumping. Throughout the year he’ll regularly be found chipping away at his fastest lap records on our local pump track.
Working across all the Wolves academies, Joe originates from North West England. Originating from North West England, Joe Ellis completed a BSc in Sport & Exercise Science and an MSc in Strength & Conditioning, both at the University of Chester. A coach with the philosophy of ‘do what works’ delivering support across Athletics, Cycling and Ruby Union at Oaklands College.
Leda was a professional road rider for 10 years through the 2000s and represented Great Britain throughout her career. She raced for pro teams in the US, Italy, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. She won over 30 races including the Coupe De France and the Tour of Tucson and multiple national medals as well as becoming British number one.As the head of physiotherapy and medical provision for all Oaklands Wolves academies, Leda’s experience at the top of the sport provides a massive advantage for our riders.
Matt was amongst the first intake of riders when the academy first started back in 2017 and therefore knows the academy inside and out, but he’s been in and around cycling and racing for a lot longer than that. He has raced on the road both domestically and abroad, as well as nationally in cyclo-cross and cross-country mountain biking. With his favourite racing being the three peaks cyclo-cross, which he has raced three times. Matt comes from an analytical background and is currently a studying at Writtle University College doing a BSc in Sports Coaching. This will facilitate his growth and development as a coach and give him the knowledge and experience to empower the riders on the bike and inspire them academically.
Henry lives and breathes cycling for both work and recreation. Racing domestically at the elite level for over 10 years in the UK within road and TT, including senior regional championship wins and multiple medals at national championship events. Henry also has experience racing and training in Europe, which he is keen to pass on to younger riders looking to make their mark in Europe. He has more recently been working on the track with the Paralympic foundation squad as a tandem pilot. This experience all feeds into Henry’s coaching style which is based upon long term development of riders rather than instant success. Henry is one of our newer coaches at Oaklands Wolves, and is focusing on our road riders to ensure they are prepared for success in both their short term and longer term cycling careers.
The structure of the week for both sides of the academy is the same : Train in the mornings and study in the afternoon, except on Wednesdays when the whole day is available for longer training, more sessions, trips and cycling related talks, webinars and one-off masterclasses with pro riders for instance. Gym sessions are spread throughout the week, with some being specific to Freeriders or BMXers and some tailored towards endurance riders. Our track sprinters and specialists also have excellent individual attention in the week from our S&C lead coach.
Our freeride options are massively varied locally with lots of good trails; some built and some natural. Although not a vastly hilly part of Hertfordshire we know how to make the most of what we have at our disposal in order to bring the riders on. We also have a growing range of options on our St Albans campus with our own dedicated BMX Start gate machine and a unique MTB skills area and entirely man-made hill which has recently been created using over 90 lorry loads of soil and clay. Our riders are involved in the design and maintenance of trails and tracks as well as riding them. Finally, the St Albans Cycle hub has become very much the home of our freeride academy with it’s progressive Clark and Kent pump track and ever improving range of dirt jumps.
The academy has Gosling Stadium Velodrome in Welwyn Garden City as a weekly training base where the academy has the track entirely to itself. The bulk of academy training takes place from our St Albans Campus, making the most of the quiet lanes, trails and fields surrounding the campus on the outskirts of St Albans. Rides take the academy into Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Greater London and Essex with regular haunts being ‘Little Flanders’ and the hills between Hertford and Essendon as well as the North Herts lanes stretching out from Whitwell and Codicote. Another regular target on longer rides is the Eastern end of the Chilterns, taking in classic climbs such as Ivinghoe Beacon and Bison Hill fairly regularly. Trail riding is also excellent straight from the off as our campus is almost entirely surrounded by farmland and countryside.
Deciding if it is right for you. It would be a good idea for us to have a chat on the phone if we haven’t already. Our staff can call you at a time convenient to you. We want to ensure that the rider and our academy are the right fit for each other. Contact Jez to arrange a conversation: cycling@oaklands.ac.uk
Coming to our Trial day. Jez will give you more details about this and the exact date once you have done the above. The main academy trial is in mid-January but applicants can apply right up to the end of July and individual trials and interviews will be arranged. We do however strongly encourage coming to the January trial (for current year 11s looking at September’s intake) if at all possible. You would then be told if the rider is considered to be suitable for the academy/if the academy is suitable for them.
We are looking for riders who:
• Endurance: Are already racing at least regionally (local races) and even better nationally or internationally. We currently have all these levels in our academy
• Endurance: Are strong and competent enough already to ride in a group of other junior riders for in excess of two hours at a steady pace taking in some reasonable hills.
• Freeride: Can demonstrate good core control of the bike and an ability to take on and apply technical skills coaching quickly.
• Listen and try to apply what they learn to their riding.
• Are able to be team players when necessary but who are also selfmotivated enough to really want to see how good they can be.
3Applying for the course of your choice and including in the application notes that you are also applying for the Cycling Academy. All of our courses, across both the St Albans and Welwyn Garden City Campuses can be found on the Oaklands College website.
The following courses fit the academy training model, meaning that you won’t miss a day’s training and your education will dovetail perfectly.
Sport:
• BTEC Level 3 90 Credit/Extended Diploma in Sport
• BTEC Level 3 90 Credit/Extended Diploma in Sport & Exercise Science
• BTEC Level 2 Diploma in Sport
• BTEC Level 1 Introductory Diploma in Sport
• Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training & Instruction
• Level 2 Diploma in Health, Fitness & Exercise Instruction
Business:
• BTEC Level 3 90 Credit Diploma in Business
• BTEC Level 2 Diploma in Business
• BTEC Level 1 Introductory Diploma in Business
• BTEC Level 3 National Foundation Diploma in Sport and Business
It is possible to study other subjects while in the academy but there is no guarantee of how well they will fit with our training despite our commitment to try to make things work as a best fit.
These include: A Levels, Combined BTEC and A Levels, Trades (Motor Vehicle, Electrical, Brickwork, Carpentry, etc.) as well as our creative subjects.
4After applying online, you will be invited in for a course experience evening. Please email cycling@oaklands.ac.uk to let us know when it is so that we can try to be there to meet with you at that time as well.
Not sure about joining our Academy?
Please get in touch with Jez to discuss and do not be put off until we have at least discussed it. We are not looking for the finished article. There’s no such thing. We are looking for potential and a desire to improve and test their limits.
Run in partnership with British Cycling
September 2022 saw the first ever intake of DiSE riders enter our academy as part of a brand new initiative with British Cycling.
Once chosen by a team of our coaches and British Cycling’s own team GB coaching staff, the program sees these riders undertake an addition 65 UCAS points qualification alongside their studies without it ever getting in the way of their training. This means that our DiSE athletes have the ability to achieve close to 4 A Levels worth of UCAS points whilst being able to prioritise far more training each day than an A level student could.
The DiSE program is so much more than just that though, with camps held at British Cycling’s base in Manchester and further afield alongside 2 whole years of guest speakers, trips and additional athlete monitoring. In our first intake of DiSE riders we had Downhillers, BMX Racers, ‘Cross riders and Time Trialists so it really does reach across the disciplines for those that are selected.
To apply to be considered for a DiSE place with us just apply online (below) and ensure that you select Oaklands Wolves as your chosen destination. There is nothing to lose in applying and so we would actively encourage all of our applicants that feel they meet the requirements to apply straight away. Just search online ‘British Cycling DiSE’ to get to the official pages on britishcycling.org.uk
Love your cycling but not ready to commit to the full academy experience while studying at Oaklands?
We now have a recreational cycling group which runs on Wednesday afternoons for anyone that is studying at Oaklands College and isn’t already in an academy. It’s destination most weeks is the St Albans Cycle Hub which is just a flat, easy 20 minute spin down the beautiful and traffic free Alban Way cycle path. Once there, our coaches are on hand to help riders progress their skills and confidence on the top-level Clark and Kent pump track and well as allowing time for our recreating riders to enjoy the facilities which include a leisure trail, CycloCross course, Dirt Jumps and café.
You do not have to be an experienced or dedicated cyclist to join. It’s as much about taking in the fresh air as it is about cycling.
Just email cycling@oaklands.ac.uk to apply to join us.
Riders must be able to bring their own bike and cycling helmet to the St Albans Campus on Wednesday afternoons. (Monitored cycle parking is provided)
