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Betteshanger Circuit – Report and pictures by Phil Rayner
Hot on the heels of the fabulous news that Kent is to be the location of stage 1 of the 2007 Tour de France comes more good news for Kent with the unveiling of a new purpose built cycling venue at Betteshanger near the Kent costal town of Deal.
Due to open at the end of June this year Betteshanger will provide a much needed venue to help replace the facilities being lost at Eastway later this year.
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Four main cycling facilities will be catered for at Betteshanger , Circuit racing on the 2mile long , 6mtr wide tarmac track , Cyclo cross and mtb using the land surrounding the track in a similar style to that at Eastway. Then set on the inside of the biggest loop on the road circuit there is a full size BMX track.
The 200 acre Community Park site is on the area that was once Betteshanger colliery which closed in 1989 and there were first rumours of a cycling venue as far back as 1995. The Land now owned by SEEDA (South East England Development Agency) had work started on it in March 2004 building a roundabout on the A258 , access roads , carparks and the road circuit. The finishing touches are now being made to the venue with hundreds of trees being planted and a visitor center with changing facilities being built in the coming months.
Although well on the way to completion Betteshanger is in need of some help with finishing the BMX track. Some expert guidance is needed from riders to fine tune the surface and add berms.
For more information see: www.seeda.co.uk
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 Racing has already started |
 That’ll split the peloton up a bit |
 Trees will be planted too |
