John Barclay Academy

The John Barclay Academy made its first public appearance last Wednesday with a launch party at 

Condor Cycles in Grays Inn Road.


The Academy has been created by the Pedal Club with the intention of carrying on the work of its late member, John Barclay, who passed away in May 2023 at the age of ninety three. John had spent over forty years mentoring aspiring young riders, particularly by taking them on continental trips (mainly Belgium) to learn the racing game.


He carried on this work until Covid interrupted things but, almost incredibly in view of his age, he was planning another season for 2023 when he died. John seems to have had a great talent for spotting talent, since the roll call of the young riders he helped reads like the list of British cycling success over the past few decades – it includes Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and many more.


The Pedal Club was well aware of the importance of John’s work and gave him some financial support. Despite his absence, the club decided to give modest amounts of money to the sort of riders he might have helped, but this quickly developed into a plan to give more help than just cash – and so the idea of the John Barclay Academy came into being.




The setting up of the Academy has mostly been the work of Keith Penfold and Graham Temple, and it was Graham who addressed the meeting at Condor’s – here is a summary of his speech: “Our purpose tonight is to continue John Barclay’s work in helping young British riders to take their first steps in continental racing”.


“The John Barclay Academy is now a fully signed up body within British Cycling. Its officers are Pedal Club members and some of John’s old team. We have to thank the Festival Road Club (John’s old club) for their help in giving us access to his old contacts, friends and helpers, but we also have good contacts within the Pedal Club itself, and these include Maurice Burton who enjoyed a successful career, mainly in Belgium”.


“It should be mentioned here that it’s now a bit more difficult to arrange entries for Belgian races than it was in John’s day, and there are now more rules in place intended to ensure the well being of young people. However, after some hard work, we believe we have now ticked all the boxes and plan to run our first trip in April.”


“I would like to thank all of you who have come tonight, including the British Cycling officials, all our sponsors and in particular Condor’s Claire Beaumont who arranged the launch here tonight.”

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    Peggy competes across race road, track and cyclocross, currently ranked first nationally for cyclocross in her age and gender category. Peggy is the cyclocross U16 National Champion of 2024, the National Trophy Series Winner of 2023/24 and recently won the National Trophy Series of 2024/25. In the 2024 road season Peggy raced in Belgium and came 6th in Ghent Wevelegem and 3rd at Zedelgem. 

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  • Slide title

    (Darlison) Milo Wills (born 12 May 2008) is a British cyclist who rides for WWV Hagens Berman–Jayco.[1] In 2025, he was a gold medalist at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in the mixed team relay.



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  • Oscar Amey (born 28 December 2007) is a British cyclist.[2] In 2025, he was a gold medalist at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in the mixed team relay. Career In 2024, he won the British National Junior cyclo cross trophy series.[3] In 2024 and 2025, he won the British junior national cyclo cross championship.[4] In January 2025 in Lievin, France he was a member of the British team which won the gold medal in the mixed team relay at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.[5] The team, comprising Amey, Zoe Bäckstedt, Cat Ferguson, Thomas Mein, Milo Wills, and Zoe Roche became the first British team to win gold in the event.[

    Oscar Amey (born 28 December 2007) is a British cyclist.[2] In 2025, he was a gold medalist at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in the mixed team relay.


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“It was always John’s practice to help only young riders and that will be the Academy’s policy. In this gathering we have the youth and junior riders Peggy Knox, Oscar Amey and Milo Wills – we see their successes as an inspiration to us and we hope that, with our support, we will see our protegees on many podiums in the future.’

Application for the Academy will be available on line through the Pedal Club’s website page and we look forward to hearing from any youth and junior riders who hope to follow in the wheel tracks of some of the best British riders in recent history. Click Here.....


USEFUL INFORMATION


What is the aim of the Academy?


The aim is to encourage and support young riders. We hope to carry on with John’s excellent work, so the most important task is for us to take young people abroad, particularly to Belgium, so that they can learn the racing game – continental style.


Who will run it?


Graham Temple and Keith Penfold are the first to have their hands on the tiller, but there is already an extensive team of volunteers ready to coach, chaperone, drive and so on.


Funding?


The Pedal Club was funding John to a limited extent and none of that money has been used recently, so there are enough funds to start operating. The Academy has already acquired some sponsorship, and fundraising events are planned. It should be noted that an important asset of the Academy is its contacts and its knowledge – these are valuable, but cannot be expressed in financial terms.


Who is it for?


The only initial qualification is age – the Academy will restrict itself to the Junior and Youth categories. Riders from any discipline can apply, although continental trips will mainly be aimed at road racing. Clearly rigid specialisation at this early stage would be a mistake, and examples of cross overs from one style of racing are commonplace. Naturally, candidates would be expected to show at least some aptitude or talent.


Application


Is very straightforward.  The Pedal Club’s website 

 

Finally


The Academy is not intended to be a commercial business. There is no intention to make a profit. It is simply an old style ‘club’ enterprise aimed at encouraging young people to race on bikes.


Chris Lovibond, January 2025.



Learn all about John Barclay Academy and how to apply for financial support

In honour of the late John Barclay the Pedal Club have formed an Academy in his name to continue his great work of introducing juniors to continental racing and a stepping stone to future

success.

 

From the beginning of the year the academy has established old and new contacts from John’s past trips to Belgium.


The Academy has been registered with British Cycling and has attracted sponsorship from:

Pactimo clothing, Continental Tyres and Named Sport nutritional products plus the expertise of Condor Cycles offering their extensive knowledge in organizing teams at all levels.


Maurice Burton, a member of the Pedal Club and professional in Belgium for many years, has

already proved to be a great asset to the project with his contacts and knowledge of the Flemish language.


The Academy has attracted support of top coaches and experienced staff to help select riders for the forthcoming racing trips.

Any junior may apply to be part of the Academy and it is planned to have separate trips for boys

and girls

 

More details are available from the secretary of The Pedal Club    secretary.thepedalclub@outlook.com

John Barclay Application Form

John Barclay


With the passing of my clubmate, John Barclay, British cyclesport has lost an important but largely unsung hero. John, who died on 19th May 2023, four days short of his ninety-fourth birthday, made an immeasurable contribution to the sport by organising continental racing trips, mainly to Belgium, for promising young riders. This work started in the 1960s and continued until his last trip in March 2020 after which Covid stopped sporting activity. Almost incredibly, he had a full season planned for his ninety-second year.

The impact of John’s work has been huge. Over the past twenty years almost all British

overseas successes have come from his pupils. The list of names is too long to report

fully, but it includes Geraint Thomas, Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and Tao Geoghegan-Hart.

John did have his own racing career and rode at high level: for example he was a member of the Norwood Paragon pursuit team which won the National Championship in 1957. He competed in English road races, but visits to Belgium demonstrated the superiority of continental organisation. From that point he started to build the network of contacts which

later served him (and his proteges) so well.

Essentially a modest man, John rarely spoke about himself and little is known of his life

outside cycling. Born in Croydon, his childhood was interrupted by evacuation to Scotland

in 1939, but he was back in London by 1941 – he left The Roke Central School, Purley at fourteen, with nothing more to show than a complimentary report. However, he later became a competent French speaker. Nothing is known of his early work life until his partnership in Jensen Cycles. This business lasted from 1958 until 1967and produced top quality bikes, but a general decline of the bike trade brought an end to the shop. From thenuntil retirement John ran a successful car hire business.

Retirement left him free for his coaching and racing trips. It is striking that this was entirely voluntary and mostly self funded. There was a little help from continental race organisersand British Cycling. The Pedal Club, (he joined 1983) gave some financial support; the club will continue his work by funding a John Barclay Academy to help young riders.

John had no partner. He did have good family links with nephews and nieces; his relationship with the world of cycling became another family.

Chris Lovibond.

See John Barclay in The Pedal Club Golden Book
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