British Cycling, the national governing body of cycle racing in the UK, has launched a Facebook campaign, Keep Racing on the Roads, as it steps up efforts to revive road racing in Britain, and is calling on the support of the nation’s cyclists.
Despite an unprecedented boom in cycling and the growing success of elite British road riders, road racing in the UK faces an uncertain future as event organisers struggle to cope with archaic legislation and increasing police charges. These problems are increasingly discouraging organisers, most of them unpaid volunteers, from staging events.
As a result, Britain is losing out at the grass roots of the UK’s up and coming stars have to go abroad to gain racing experience and, if the current trend continues, there will be fewer and fewer road events to develop the Olympic and Tour de France champions of tomorrow.
To address these problems, British Cycling is working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Department for Transport and the Home Office.
Last week MPs and parliamentary candidates received a letter from British Cycling, signed by CEO Ian Drake, Performance Director Dave Brailsford, CBE and Sir Chris Hoy, drawing attention to the issue and asking for support.
British Cycling is working hard to get some momentum behind the issue so that it can be addressed quickly in the new parliament and now you can help too by supporting its Keep Racing on the Roads Facebook campaign, which has gained over 4,000 fans since launching last Friday.
Ian Drake, British Cycling’s CEO, said: “The decline of road races in this country absolutely must be reversed. We are working really hard on this issue and we believe that with the right support from Government and the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games on the horizon we have a rare opportunity to make some fundamental changes. I am asking all our members and all cycling enthusiasts to get behind us as we campaign to secure the future of UK road racing.”
