Northampton Bike Park geared up and ready to go first riders set off on £750,000 project

People behind a new bike park now open in Northampton say they hope it produces some British sports stars of the future.

Wellbeing charity Northamptonshire Sport will run the Northampton Bike Park, which cost £750,000 and is built on a former golf course, offering mountain bikers the chance to rise on four trails of varying degrees of difficulty between Houghton Hill and the A45 underpass in Delapre.

The first riders set off on Monday (September 26) on the site, which also includes 13 hectares of ecological habitats.

Northamptonshire Sport’s strategic director Gabrielle Deere said: “We’re proud and excited to manage and operate this amazing new facility.

"As a charity focused on physical activity, health and wellbeing, the park aligns with our mission to help make the county a happier, healthier and more active place.

"With the Bike Park, we’re aiming to provide a free but sustainable facility and develop an inclusive, safe and exciting place, to be enjoyed by everyone, with or without a bike.”

Northamptonshire Sport plans to develop the park’s offering, including programmes for young people, local communities and those with limiting disabilities.

There will also be coaches on hand to help people develop their skills, regional events and the option to hire equipment to try the facilities, without having to make a big financial investment.

The new park is connected with other parts of the town by the Norbital cycle route.

Sport England provided £250,000 towards the cost via its Places To Ride fund, a partnership between Sport England, British Cycling and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport with the rest from West Northamptonshire Council, including £50,000 from Public Health Northamptonshire.

The site is free to use with running costs funded from car park revenue and donations.

Council deputy leader, Councillor Adam Brown, said: “If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it’s how precious our physical and mental health are, so we will continue to pursue opportunities to deliver more developments of this type.

“We’re very happy to be delivering a facility in partnership with Sport England and British Cycling which will benefit people of any age and ability, and which may one day produce some stars of the sport.

“It’s incredibly important that we continue to enhance leisure opportunities for people in our area, and we expect a significant number of people to benefit from this wonderful new facility.”

A new club for mountain bikers, called Ride Northampton, will be led by amateur competitor Tony Skirrow to help maintain the trails.

After getting a sneak peek at the bike park last month, he said: “It's beyond what I thought it was going to be. It's fantastic.

"It's probably going to be a big attraction for more than just Northampton, it's going to be countrywide. People will come from a couple of hours away to use this park.

"This is an enormous investment and an enormous thing for Northampton to have this type of facility. Very few towns have anything approaching this as close to the town centre as we have here. It's unique.”