NEIL Welsh’s claim to fame was once over-taking Chris Boardman in a time trial.

He is quick to follow it up with the caveat that the cyclist who went on to become an Olympic gold medal winner “had punctured at the time”.

Plus it was the mid-1980s, before the road and track race ace found sporting stardom.

Nevertheless, it remains high on the list of - by his own admission - modest achievements for amateur cyclist Welsh.

Now, as coach, chairman and co-founder of Cycle Sport Pendle (CSP), he has bigger aspirations for his proteges.

“With that pyramid of grass roots through to elite level, the broader the base of the pyramid the more chance we’ve got,” said Welsh, who helped to establish CSP in 2008 and was one of the driving forces behind the Steven Burke Sports Hub, named after Colne’s London 2012 gold medal winner, which opened a year ago.

“It’s the old sausage machine, the more that goes in at one end, the more should come out at the other.

“Our membership of Under 10s is ever growing because you need more good 10-year-olds to create more good 12-year-olds and so on.”

There were spikes in attendances after Bradley Wiggins’ Tour de France success and London 2012, but membership continues to grow gradually for all age groups. There is even a waiting list for Under 10s.

“These are fairly exciting times for Cycle Sport Pendle because we’re virtually 12 months in now to having the new circuit,” Welsh continued.

“That’s brought in some additional coaching support and some additional riders and it’s allowed us to do more with our riders than we’ve been able to do in the past.

“It’s created a lot more interest in us as a club.”

Welsh was not able to make a career out of cycling himself, but his work as a financial advisor has put him in a position to negotiate attractive and vital sponsorship deals with Manchester-based outdoor clothing manufacturer ‘Dare 2b’, Beacon Bikes of Whalley and Hope Technology of Barnoldswick which have provided funding and equipment to help encourage CSP’s cyclists to reach the highest level possible.

Seventeen-year-old Tim Jones is one to watch, and they have a boys and girls team at the Youth Tour of Scotland.

But while podium places or Tour de France triumphs are ambitions that Welsh harbours for the Colne-based club’s members, it is not the be all and end all for Welsh. His main target is for them to be happy.

For although cycling has given the 44-year-old a number of highs, there have been some lows too.

Welsh showed a natural aptitude for cycling when a hobby inspired by a neighbour became competitive. But a number of factors contributed to him not being able to accumulate much in the way of silverware.

Ailments, adversity, adolescence and adulthood all played a part.

Yet as much as those experiences held him back at the time, they have become influential in Welsh’s determination to produce not just a group of road and track racers that can compete with the best but also maintain the love of cycling that he temporarily lost.

“I was really into my cycling when I was 15 and was part of a cycling club that was an absolute out and out racing club, so I felt that I had to be ridiculously fit to go out for a ride with them,” he explained.

“I ended up getting glandular fever when I was 16. After that I ended up with chronic fatigue and had about four years off the bike.

“Thereafter beer and girls were more interesting, and so although I still considered myself a cyclist I didn’t do really anything at all.”

Welsh got back into cycling with a few charity bike rides, following the birth of the first of his two children to raise money for the Edith Watson maternity unit at Burnley General Hospital where daughter, Caitlin, had received treatment following some complications at birth.

“They really sparked my interest and passion again,” he said.

“Then, lo and behold, a half-time announcement at Turf Moor one day, Chris Gibson’s Land’s End to John O’Groats charity bike ride was mentioned, and I joined them for half of it - Burnley to John O’Groats - in 2006.

“That really inspired me and I started taking my cycling a lot more seriously.”

CSP came to fruition after the following year’s long-distance charity cycle through Holland.

Welsh made a sponsorship connection through local florist ‘Going Dutch’, which he discovered was run by Peter Boast, the Clayton Velo organiser.

They had never met before but soon realised they shared common interests and goals for future generations of cyclists.

Their brainchild, CSP, for which Len Woffinden is also a co-founder, now has almost 200 members, holds training sessions on Saturdays mornings and Tuesday nights and will this year stage its own race events to fill the gap left by the collapse of Cycling Development North West.

But while Welsh is serious about cycling, the emphasis remains on fun.

“We want to be in a position where some of the country’s top cycling clubs are approaching us to say ‘Who have you got coming through?” he said.

“We want CSP to be big and broad enough that if you’re competing at the highest level, fantastic. But if for whatever reason your level of commitment dips or your health dips or whatever else, it’s possible to take a step back and still feel like you’re part of a cycling family and that you can still be with your mates and still be a cyclist.”