TEN-year-old Bjoern Koerdt from Bramhope near Otley has won the Under-12 Yorkshire Cyclo-cross Championship in his first-ever winter cross season.

Bjoern, a pupil at Bramhope Primary School and the youngest member of the All Terrain Cycles racing team, taught himself to cycle when he was just three years old and has been competing in road racing since he was five.

He has already won more than 100 races and turned his talents to off road cyclo-cross racing only two years ago.

He has won the Under-ten and Under-12 summer series this year and last weekend celebrated his biggest victory by winning the Yorkshire championships.

Bjoern’s father, Lars, who also cycles competitively, said: “Bjoern really is a natural cyclist. He picked up a neighbour’s bike and taught himself to ride seven years ago and has been passionate about cycling ever since. He does lots of different types of training as well as cycling around 100 miles a week, with coaching from myself as well as input from cyclocross experts.”

Lars continues: “We have been fortunate to have been supported by All Terrain Cycles with Bjoern joining the team two years ago as its youngest member. As a German engineer, I believe that biodynamics, the positioning of the cyclist on the bike, is essential and the experts at All Terrain have been able to meet my very specific, and even finicky, technical requirements.”

Tony Booth, managing director of All Terrain Cycles, which has a superstore near Bradford, said: “Bjoern is just finishing a spectacular first season in cyclo-cross – he is the only child we sponsor but, spotting his raw talent two years ago, we felt he deserved a place on the team.

“Bringing young cyclists into the sport is vital and we hope that Bjoern’s success will inspire other youngsters to take part in this exciting sport. He’s had a brilliant season both on and off road, winning the Road Yorkshire trophy as well as the summer series and now the Yorkshire Cross Championships.

“We’re all now looking forward to the Ripley Castle Cyclo-cross on New Year’s Day which we’re sponsoring and no doubt Bjoern will do us proud once again. There are classes for men, women, novices, youth and children, so it’s a great opportunity to take to two wheels and have some fun in testing conditions.”

All entries are via the British Cycling website: https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/109622/Ripley-Castle-Cyclo-Cross. Entries will close on December 26, although the novice and children’s races can be entered on the day.