Northampton bike park on track to open for all abilities

A new £725,000 mountain bike park should be on track to open later in the summer, a local authority said.

Construction on the 40-acre site in Northampton started in April by On Track on the site of the old Delapre golf course.

The bike park, led by West Northamptonshire Council, will be free for everyone to use.

Mountain biker Tony Skirrow said the bike park would be an "enormous" game-changer for the sport in the area.

He said the site was "perfect" because the landscape had "natural falls, lumps, and bumps" for mountain bikers to jump over.

The park has been given an investment of £250,000 from Sport England, on behalf of the Places to Ride programme, which is a partnership between British Cycling, Sport England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with the rest coming from the council.

The local authority said it hoped the track was on schedule.

James Watkins, managing director of On Track, said the track had been designed to help mountain bikers "safely progress their skill and ability".

"We've been conscious of the fact that the average skill level of mountain bikers is increasing, so the trails have been designed to cater for that," he said.

The chairman of Northamptonshire Sport, Steve Adams, said the site would be free and hoped it would help mountain biking become more affordable and accessible.

"One of the things that we are very keen to do is to look at ways we can lower the barriers to entry for people participating in this sport," he said.

"We're looking to do programmes where we can provide young people with equipment so they can try out these facilities without necessarily having to make a big investment in a bike to actually get going."

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]