A PE teacher training the next generation of Chris Hoys today warned that cycling for young people in Edinburgh will "crumble" if a new training track is not built in the city.
Portobello High School teacher Eric Easton says the future of cycling in the Capital is bleak if facilities do not improve.
Mr Easton takes groups of youngsters from the city's largest high school to the velodrome at Meadowbank in his own time to
give them a taste of the sport.
He says a number of them have a natural talent and have joined the youth wing of the City of Edinburgh Racing Club. But, he warns, they will be forced to give up the sport if a suitable facility is not built to replace the doomed Meadowbank velodrome.
He said: "There are lots of kids here that want to cycle but think it's too dangerous on the roads, so the velodrome is perfect.
"Kids who join the club are getting fantastic training and that would all go because the kids' club would have to fold."
He added that around five youngsters at the school are now racing in national competitions.
"We could have a really strong Scottish track cycling team because there are new people coming up all the time," he said. "If the facilities are there you can make champions."
On a recent visit to the velodrome, Mr Easton and his group bumped into Olympic cyclist Hoy. He added: "For Portobello kids to meet an Olympian and multiple world champion was magnificent. They have a role model and a facility where they live."
Hoy's former coach, Allister Watson, trains youngsters at the velodrome as part of the City of Edinburgh Racing Club's kids' club. He said: "Eric Easton has brought a number of groups up from Portobello High and some of them have been pretty good.
"It generates an interest in the school and exposes the kids to a different kind of sport they would not normally try.
"Eric is very concerned that that option could be taken away."
Mr Watson wants to see a 200-metre indoor training track built in the Capital to replace the velodrome at Meadowbank.
A spokesman for the city council said: "We are currently taking advice from Scottish Cycling and others about what type of facility Edinburgh and the east of Scotland needs. Although cycling is moving away from Meadowbank, where the track is past its best, we want to create a new track cycling facility for Edinburgh.
"The ideal situation would be that a new cycling facility is in place before the Meadowbank track is taken down and that is what we will aim for."
The full article contains 453 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
