Cyclist Tim Bishop could not believe his luck when a visit to his local garden centre in Usk, Monmouthshire, ended up with him meeting Great Britain Olympic riders Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Owain Doull, Steven Burke and Ed Clancy.
The five riders were out on a training ride in August ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when they stopped off at the café at Morris’s of Usk garden centre. Bishop took a photo of himself with the riders, who were all in their official GB kit.
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When Wiggins, Burke, Clancy and Doull took gold in the team pursuit and Cavendish claimed silver in the omnium, Bishop decided to commemorate their visit to the garden centre by painting the picnic bench they sat at gold – after getting permission from the garden centre to do so.
It has now been christened the ‘Olympicnic bench’.
Tim Bishop (fourth left) at the gold Olympicnic bench
Along with the gold paint, Bishop also installed a brass plaque to explain its metallic hue:
“Team GB Olympicnic Bench. Painted gold by Tim Bishop in honour of Sir Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Owain Doull and Mark Cavendish who stopped and sat here during their Rio 2016 training.”
Bishop told Gloucestershire Live: “We thought that as post boxes were painted gold after London 2012 and it would be a great feature at the cafe after their success in Rio.”
Plaque explaining the Olympicnic bench’s origins
