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Olympic Park gets legacy festival of cycling event

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No doubt trying to combine the recent success of the London Sky Ride events and create a fitting legacy from the London Olympics this year, The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced plans for London to host a two day festival of cycling in 2013 with the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park being at the very heart of the plans.

The first day of the festival will involve a family fun ride for up to 70,000 cyclists on an eight mile loop of closed roads around London’s iconic landmarks.

The following day up to 35,000 amateur, club and world class elite cyclists will tackle a 100 mile course that will begin in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and be based on much of the route of the 2012 Games cycle road race, incorporating the current road route in Surrey.

No date set yet

No official date for the festival has yet been given but July 2013 will see the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) reopen the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and August is the most likely time the event will take place.

OPLC will be organising a full weekend of wheel based activities on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to support the festival of cycling such as associated attractions, competitions, workshops, music, food and film.

Lasting legacy

The Mayor of London’s office said it hoped the event would become an annual event in the London sporting and leisure calendar and in turn bring millions of pounds of economic benefit into London.

The hope is that the event will provide a long term source of income for investment into improving conditions for cycling in London and provide opportunities to channel people to other cycling initiatives.

Support

British Cycling has put its support behind the initiative. Brian Cookson, President of British Cycling, said the “time was right” for this such an event.

“With burgeoning ‘sportive’ participation levels demonstrating the mass appeal of our sport. This event will celebrate the new place of cycling in British culture, right in the heart of the capital.

Mark Cavendish, current cycling World Champion, has also been pulled in to support the event: “This is the ideal legacy not only for our world class team of cyclists and paracyclists, but also for thousands of amateur cyclists who will hopefully be inspired by our performance at the Olympic Games. This event will be a fantastic opportunity to show Britain at its best and to share our Olympic cycling heritage.”

A commercial partner is being sought to help deliver the festival and bring the festival into reality.


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