Volunteers fund and build new bike track for children which is branded 'amazing' by Sheffield bike legend Steve Peat

Volunteers who have given £1,700 and many hours of their time to create a new bike track have celebrated its opening.
Children enjoying a new pump track in Hope, which has been built thanks to help from volunteers and local businesses.Children enjoying a new pump track in Hope, which has been built thanks to help from volunteers and local businesses.
Children enjoying a new pump track in Hope, which has been built thanks to help from volunteers and local businesses.

The new pump track in Hope, in the Peak District, was marked officially opened by Sheffield mountain bike legend and former world champion downhill mountain biker Steve Peat.

He said: “I’m stoked to come and see the Hope pump track. The guys have done an amazing job. Every little town needs one of these. All the kids have huge smiles on their faces and it’s really good to see.”

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Local dads, John Helliwell, Dan Critchlow and Steven Dalton, first came up with the idea for a pump track to be able to give their own kids somewhere to play.

Along with Chay Granby and Aaron Worwood, they designed and worked on the track over the last few months, and they have had huge support from local businesses and mountain bikers.

Fundraising was started in July with a summer BBQ and social event hosted by village eatery Café Adventure, which which raised over £300 in one evening.

In the subsequent months, the community group raised around £1,700 from local business and also received donations and discounts for the materials used in the build.

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Up to 15 volunteers at a time also gave up their Saturdays to do the digging on site, while and other people made lunch and cakes for the hungry workers. Most weeks, Hathersage Bakery also sent over lunch for the dig crew.

Dan, who is a fencing contractor based in Hope, said: “We’ve been blown away by the amount of support received from so many different people and would like to thank everyone who has contributed cash, materials or their time.

“Special thanks must go to RJA Contracting for providing the diggers and to Breedon Group who donated all the stone used on the site. Furness Brothers transported the stone from the quarry, along with lending dumpers to the build team and donating money to the project.

“We also received some free advice on how to create the actual structure of the pump track from professional mountain bike trail builders, Bike Track.”

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Located behind the Hope sports club, the pump track – which is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features which mountain bikers and BMX riders use to develop skills – is now five times its original size. Search ‘Hope Pump Track’ on Facebook.

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