Bury St Edmunds welcomed Suffolk’s new professional cycling duo who are taking part in the national Street Velodrome competition.

East Anglian Daily Times: 2016 UK Street Velodrome Series will be coming to Charter Square in Bury St Edmunds this summer.2016 UK Street Velodrome Series will be coming to Charter Square in Bury St Edmunds this summer.

The Suffolk Saints John Stockwell and Tanya Griffiths visited Charter Square yesterday after competing on Sunday in the first stage at the Eden Project, in Cornwall. The penultimate stage of the national competition comes to Bury in July.

“It’s an amazing experience,” said Tanya Griffiths, 30, from Ipswich. “The track does look daunting, but it’s great for everyone, from young children who just want to give it a try, to adults wanting to improve their bike handling skills, or those who enjoy extreme sports.”

Although the competition runs on July 17, the previous day will see a public-access session in Bury from 9am.

StreetVelodrome is an Olympic-style pursuit-race competition, seeing amateur and professional riders competing.

John is a former indoor Olympic stadium velodrome coach and Tanya, a road and indoor velodrome champion.

Although the competition visited Lowestoft before, this is the first time the county has been represented in the pro-team contest.

The Suffolk Saints came fourth out of six professional teams taking part in the time trial rounds of the competition In Cornwall, with seven more locations around the UK to go.

StreetVelodrome has been brought to Bury St Edmunds through a collaboration between Suffolk County Council and Abbeycroft Leisure, in association with St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Bury Town Council.

John, 49, from Sible Hedingham, said: “Having spent the last six years coaching cycling in Suffolk, I am proud to represent the county and looking forward to hearing the crowd cheer when we come to Bury St Edmunds.”