A TALENTED young Kidderminster cyclist has thrown her support behind a campaign to build a velodrome in the West Midlands.

Kinga Ingram, 14, who is ranked fifth in the country for her age group, has backed a petition calling for Commonwealth Games bosses to reconsider building a velodrome in Birmingham for the 2022 games.

She said she felt a facility closer to home would “inspire” young cyclists from Wyre Forest to follow in her footsteps and take up the sport.

Durban in South Africa had originally been chosen to host the 2022 games and didn't list track cycling as one of its sporting events in its bid document.

But Birmingham is hosting track cycling and the online petition suggests having a velodrome outside the region could ‘harm’ the prospects of young cyclists from the West Midlands. The petition is close to securing 5000 signatures.

Kinga, who attends King Charles I school, has been cycling for two years and is a member of Halesowen Athletic and Cycling Club. She recently represented the West Midlands in a group of four female cyclists at the Youth Tour of Scotland and is hoping to compete in the Birmingham games.

Kinga said: “I think the petition is a very important as it will help inspire the younger generation to take up sport and join in.

“As a competitive cyclist the velodrome would mean so much to me as it will help me improve my performance and give me the best possible chance to achieve my aspirations of being a professional cyclist in the future.

“I started by cycling at Wyre Forest Racing Cycling club, and without their guidance would not have achieved my early success.

“I am grateful to Wyre Forest but needed more access to Velodrome Cycling as British Cycling target the track discipline as many more medals are available at World Championships, Olympic and Commonwealth competitions.”

Kinga is currently preparing to compete in the Isle of Man Youth Cycle Tour taking place over the weekend (Friday May 4 – Sunday May 6).

A Birmingham 2022 spokesperson said: “We have yet to formally announce the complete Birmingham 2022 sports and venue line up. We anticipate doing this in the coming months.

“When deciding on venues and locations for all sports, a full and rigorous evaluation has been carried out, looking at existing local venues, followed by an examination of regional venues where suitable local options do not exist, and finally any facilities further afield where there are no local or regional options.

“As part of its bid process Birmingham explored other regional velodrome options as well as new and temporary facilities, but the options were neither compliant nor economically viable. We hope that the existing velodromes in the UK, including Derby Arena, are able to play a role as training venues.”