Jack Petchey Leader Award

We have been lucky enough to be accepted in to the Jack Petchey Leader Award Scheme; as a result each year we have an opportunity to recognise and award one of our adult volunteers.

What is the Jack Petchey Leader Award Scheme?

Linked to the Achievement Award Scheme for young people, the Leader Award enables Bigfoot Youth’s members to honour the dedication and commitment of one of its adult volunteers - particularly those who go the extra mile to support the club.

The Jack Petchey Foundation realise that none of the great sessions and events that our young riders are able to participate in would not be possible without the support of their adult volunteers. This is a chance for our young riders to recognise the adult volunteers, the ones that inspire and support them – and to say thank you.

How the scheme works

Once a year our young riders select one of the club's adult volunteers to receive the Leader Award. This will be done by each of our young riders getting one vote, and the adult volunteer with the most votes gets the award!

The adult volunteer must:

  • Have demonstrated, in an outstanding way, an ability to encourage and motivate our young riders

  • Be regularly working with our young riders

  • Be over 21 years old

  • Have been involved in our club for at least 1 year

  • Have not won the Leader Award previously (our previous winners are listed below).

We will then congratulate the winner for their achievement at one of our club sessions, they get:

  • A framed certificate and medallion

  • They may additionally be awarded a £750 grant by the Jack Petchey Foundation to be spent on something of their choice that will benefit Bigfoot Youth CC

  • Award winners are further recognised by attending one of the Jack Petchey celebration events.


September 2021 Winner

The September 2021 winner of the Jack Petchey Leader Award is Marcel Rizza.

One of the Youth branch's coaches, Marcel does lots of coaching, leads rides and generally helps and guides the running of the club.


October 2020 Winner

The October 2020 winner of the Jack Petchey Leader Award is Matt Benfield.

One of the Youth branch's coaches for a number of years (alongside many other responsibilities such as sourcing kit) the Youth riders who voted for him described him as an excellent coach, who is dedicated, helpful and generous with his time.


September 2019 Winner

The September 2019 winner of the Jack Petchey Leader Award is Simon Spearmann-Oxx.

One of the club's leading coaches for a number of years, the Youth riders who voted for him described him as funny, good at fixing bikes, a good coach, someone who does a lot for the club, helpful, encouraging, and helpful.


September 2018 Winner

The September 2018 winner of the Jack Petchey Leader Award is Spencer Harradine.

As one of the founders of Bigfoot Go-Ride, and chairman for the first 8 years, Spencer has been an integral part of the club from the very beginning. The Youth riders who voted for him described him as friendly, a good leader, an inspiration, entertaining, encouraging and full of advice.


October 2017 Winner

The October 2017 winner of the Jack Petchey Leader Award is Stephen Peate.

Stephen has been one of the leading club coaches for several years, both at Hayes and now at Youth. He's established consistent coaching session plans for the club and runs loads of rides for our most able cyclists. He's on our Committee, on the Bigfoot CC main committee as Youth liaison person. He organises and helps run race events (including the Badlands CX race), designs and produces lots of publicity material and has arranged for our more able cyclists to ride with the top levels of the adult club. He also wears good socks, apparently.


May 2017 Winner

The May 2017 winner of the Jack Petchey Leader Award is Carol Rushmere.

Carol is the person who sorts all our first aid supplies and arranges first aid training. She has also been a fantastic help supporting our more ambitious long rides as part of the support team – support vehicle, food and drink provision and looking after us all at overnight accommodation.


March 2016 Winner

We are pleased to announce that the 2016 winner of the Jack Petchey Leader Award is Adam Shepherd.