British Cycling to be praised for achievement, say Wales' cycling bosses

British Cycling to be praised for achievement, say Wales' cycling bosses

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Welsh Cycling bosses have congratulated British Cycling on their success at the and added that celebrations are an ideal opportunity to reflect on the contribution Wales makes to boosting cycling at a regional level. 

British Cycling has been named Sports Governing Body of the Year at the Awards, which took place last night in London.

The honour comes in what has been a monumental year for British Cycling and the sport as a whole, with key achievements including 16 gold medals at London 2012, and a million more people inspired to take up cycling.

Welsh Cycling Interim Chief Executive, Marcus Kingwell, today extended praise to British Cycling and added that Wales should be proud of the contribution it makes regionally to cycling:

“Congratulations must go to British Cycling for what is a remarkable achievement, and our thanks to them for continuing to be a pillar of support to cycling regionally and in Wales. 

“We look forward to continuing to work together to inspire even more people to ride regularly across all cycle disciplines, enjoy further medal success and enable the sport to achieve future ambitious milestones like this.

“It’s also a great opportunity to reflect on the achievements made by our Welsh athletes like Geraint Thomas and Mark Colbourne MBE at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and more recently world champions Becky James and Elinor Barker at the Track World Championships.

“It’s in part thanks to their example that thousands more people in Wales, and perhaps more widely, are being inspired to give cycling a go.”

He also congratulated British Cycling for their continued support in helping Wales to increase opportunities to ride a bike at grassroots and recreational levels. 

Around 100 free, local rides rolled out of Wales, from Newport, between 2011 and 2012 through the Sky Ride Local programme, supported by Newport City Council.

Rides were led by British Cycling-trained Ride Leaders with ride easy, ride steady and ride strong levels offering all abilities of rider a chance to enjoy getting on a bike for fun.  The programme has led to Wales’ very first Social Cycling Group being established.

Wales now has more than 3,000 British Cycling members, and nearly 100 affiliated clubs spanning all cycle disciplines from road, track and mountain bike, to BMX, cyclo-cross and cycle speedway.

This year alone, Wales will host a round of the Premier Calendar Road Series, the Abergavenny Grand Prix, in July, two rounds of the Junior National Road Race Series, the Cadence Junior Road Race and Junior Tour of Wales (24-26 August), the National Cross Country Mountain Bike Series, and British National Downhill Championships (Bala, 20-21 July), among others.

“The past two years has seen a fantastic growth in cycling at grassroots and recreational levels in Wales, made possible through British Cycling-supported initiatives like Go-Ride and Sky Ride Local and the support it offers for our programmes and domestic events,” added Kingwell.

“Significant support is also provided by Sport Wales and all of this enables Welsh Cycling to contribute in part to the bigger picture. However we also recognise that our contribution to helping the UK become a cycling nation can only be achieved through the hard work of our clubs, members, volunteers, officials, members, primary sponsors, and partners who continue to support cycling in Wales and thanks must go to them.”   

Check out the British Cycling Club Finder to find your nearest cycling club, or go to the Event Calendar to see a list of cycling events this year in Wales.