Izzy Harris - ERC Youth Convenor

Hiya, my name is Izzy, and I’m stepping into the role as Youth Convenor for ERC, which I’m very excited about. I grew up in Cardiff and moved to Edinburgh in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

I fell in love with cycling as a child due to my bike-crazed parents and joined a club (Maindy Flyers) at age 10 and never looked back. I started coaching when I was 16 as part of my volunteering commitment for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. As I was based at the velodrome in Cardiff I ran mainly track and road sessions for the youth club as well as the go-ride sessions for younger riders.

When I moved to Edinburgh, I soon tracked down ERC and asked if they had a need for more coaches (a recurring theme) and I’ve been here ever since. I took charge of Go-Ride at Inch Park in 2020 to restart youth activity post-lockdown and have enjoyed seeing the sessions flourish and our waiting list clear.

Now that I’ve graduated and have finished other commitments (Scottish Cycling’s Young People’s Panel) I have the time to dedicate to the Youth Convenor role as well as coaching at Inch Park for the foreseeable. I have a fairly wide discipline background now, road, track, cyclocross and mountain biking and hope I can use this to develop the youth sections. I’m passionate about widening participation for girls and making the sport more accessible for those from a lower income background, and I would like to work with the wider committee to develop the youth section using the experience I had as a youth rider and as a coach.

If you have any questions or ideas for the youth sections, please drop me an email at isobel.c.harris@gmail.com