Barbados may be best known for its white sand beaches, rum and cricket, but this September the Caribbean island will host the inaugural Festival of Cycling – culminating in a sportive which takes in a lap of the island.
The Barbados Festival of Cycling will take place from September 5-10 and has been launched ‘for cyclists of all abilities to discover Barbados from an unparalleled perspective’.
The first four days of the event will offer riders the chance to explore the various parishes on the island, with routes for both road and mountain bikes.
The final day of the festival will see the round-the-island sportive take place, with a 112km route which traverses the coast.
The course will start in the capital, Bridgetown, and will take riders anti-clockwise around the island, taking in the ‘dramatic coastal views of Cattlewash, the lush greenery of St John’s parish, and often-missed small towns and villages along the coast and inland’. A 64km route will also be available.
Riders taking on the gold course will also have the chance to win a slice of a US$7,000 prize purse (1st place US$2,000, 2nd place US$1,000, 3rd place US$500), as well as two complimentary return flights to the first man and woman who complete the course.
“At long last, we are proud to show off the island’s superb cycling routes,” says Barbados Tourism Marketing’s UK director, Cheryl Carter.
