In 2007 DHL and Face Partnership will, in partnership, be launching the DHL Sprint School which will be endorsed and supported by Craig Maclean and Victoria Pendleton and with great support from British Cycling and the staff of BC's Talent Team in particular. All track league organisers from across UK were invited to a briefing session at the Revolution yesterday and also stayed on to watch the Revolution as our VIP guests so that we could thank them for all the great work they do for track cycling at grass roots level.

Six DHL Sprint Schools will be held throughout 2007 with the first schools being at Newport and the later ones at Manchester. The series will culminate in a Baby Revolution at Newport in October when every single rider who has attended a Sprint School will be eligible to race - and the event will be very special. We intend to run this Baby Revolution jointly with the Junior Interland competition which has been so successful and which Yorick Bos has already commented on - DHL will be involved in sponsoring this year's UK round of the Interland. DHL and Face Partnership promise to make it something special.

2006/07 DHL Future Stars Team Champions: West Midlands

Nominees to attend the Sprint Schools will be nominated by their "home" track leagues and in principle each track league can nominate 4 riders per sprint school plus two reserves. It is hoped that we will have equal numbers of boys and girls but if a league has no girl riders available then they may nominate boys in their place - but only if no girls are available who wish to attend. This is intended to ensure that girls are given every chance to progress. We would love to see 50/50% boys and girls if that was possible.

Sprint schools are intended to be for riders aged 12 and above up to the time they turn junior. Special exceptions may be made in a very limited number of circumstances to allow riders under the age of 12 to attend but they would have to demonstrate an ability that is considered truly exceptional. In most cases they will be asked to wait their turn until the following year(s). This is a three year programme.

The DHL Future Stars

The whole aim of the schools is to be inclusive. Many riders have been selected for the Talent Team already and are being well looked after by the BC system but there are also many other riders who would love to be on the Talent Team but might not have been selected - perhaps for reasons of ability or age. So the sprint schools will not be open to riders already on the Talent Team. We are not worried whether a rider has superb talent or not - we want the sprint schools to be fun and easily accesible to grass roots club riders and for riders to reach their maximum potential even if they are not going to be world champions of the future - though we suspect some may be!

The riders will spend the day at the host track being coached by Talent Team coaches in the detail of how to prepare and ride sprint type events such as keirin, sprint, 500 metre time trial etc. They will also be given superb off the bike coaching in other matters such as training regimes, diet, bike maintenance, tactics etc. Schools will be attended by the World's top riders such as Craig Maclean and Victoria Pendleton and our other "world stars" who have all given expressed their support. Riders will be observed by not only the world's best riders but also by the BC coaching staff so anyone who feels they have not been "spotted" by our British Cycling Performance programme will have every chance to put that right. The National Sprint Coach - Iain Dyer - is a supporter of the schools and is taking a keen interest in how riders progress.

All events are free of charge to riders though they must be BC members for insurance purposes etc; there are all sorts of interesting things planned along with lots of "freebies" as well. Riders will have direct access to Craig and there will be a dedicated, interactive website where Craig and other world and olympic medallists will be available on video "on demand" giving riders feedback on race analysis, interviews, techniques they use. Riders will also be able to post their best 200 metre time times. Girls will get access to Victoria Pendleton who is probably the best female role model in any British sport. The website will also enable us to "reach out" to riders who may be keen to attend but are not near a local track league.

Track leagues may choose to nominate the same four riders for every school though every one of the organisers is keen on the concept of inclusivity so it is virtually certain that most leagues will "spread" their available places around to give as many riders the opportunity to attend as possible.