Published: 14 July 2015

Welsh Cycling is on the right road to get more women cycling in Wales, as the Breeze pilot sees over 1,300 cycling opportunities created for women over the last six months.

The pilot of the Breeze Network programme, funded by Sport Wales, has been well received by female cyclists and non-cyclists in Wales. The pilot was active in four local authorities Swansea, Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire providing fun, safe bike rides led by women for women.

The first cohort of Breeze Champions were trained in Cardiff in autumn 2014, with 50 Champions trained over the course of the pilot delivering 163 Breeze rides, providing over 1,300 opportunities for women to cycle. 

Mary Trenfield was one of the first Breeze Champions to be trained in Wales: “I became a Breeze Champion so that I could play a part in introducing women like me to the joy and freedom of getting out on a bike.”

Due to the success of the Breeze pilot in South Wales, Welsh Cycling has been awarded £250,000 from Sport Wales Calls4Action to further develop cycling opportunities for women and girls over the next three years. The SheCycles Wales project aims to:

• Provide more than 13,000 opportunities for women and girls to cycle

• Develop a pathway to engage women and girls from social riding to taking the first steps in to competitive cycling
• Extend the British Cycling Breeze Network across all local authorities in Wales, and introducing Breeze to secondary school aged girls.

Women and Girls Officer, Cat Crimmins said: “The success of Breeze has demonstrated a need to provide more opportunities for women and girls to cycle in a fun and safe environment. The Calls4Action funding will allow us to extend Breeze across Wales, and provide more opportunities for women and girls to ride socially, race competitively or just enjoy the freedom of cycling.

Our Breeze Champions have done a fantastic job in showcasing Breeze in Wales, and shown passion and dedication to get more women cycling. I would like to thank them for their hard work so far, and look forward to continuing on the road to get more women and girls cycling.”

Find your nearest Breeze Bike Ride or become a Breeze Champion with Welsh Cycling.