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Cycling looks set to benefit following Beijing successes
Cyclists across the country look set to benefit from improved facilities to capture the enthusiasm of Great Britain cycling successes and improve it further in 2012 as the Great Britain celebrate a record medal haul in Beijing.
Chris Hoy with his three Gold medals. (Photo courtesy of British Cycling)
Andrew Brown, SkillsActive - 20/08/2008
Scotland's Olympic hero Chris Hoy is to have a new National Velodrome in Glasgow named after him while London cyclists will benefit from a new facility after the Mayor of London Boris Johnson yesterday opened Redbridge Cycling Centre.
Boris Johnson was joined by Commissioner for Sport Kate Hoey and Sydney gold medallist Jason Quealy in trying out the state of the art £4.5 million centre which was built by the London Development Agency (LDA) for community and competition use.
The 2km circuit and off road trail is the first piece of physical sporting legacy in London linked to 2012 and replaces Eastway Cycle Circuit which is being turned into the VeloPark for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. After 2012 the VeloPark will return to community use meaning London will have two of the best cycling facilities in the country.
At the opening, people received free coaching by British Cycling through the LDA's Summer of Sport (SoS) programme. SoS offers more than 600 free sporting events across London to increase sport activity in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "Cycling is a fantastic way to travel - it's good for the environment, it's good for the health and it's good for the wallet. The opening of the Redbridge Centre could not have happened at a better time - this being London's 'summer of cycling'. One of my key ambitions as Mayor is to see London become a real cycling city by encouraging the estimated 1.1 million Londoners who own bikes but don't use them regularly to get back in the saddle.”
Peter King, Chief Executive of British Cycling said: "The GB Cycling Team in Beijing are achieving incredible success, and facilities such as the Redbridge Cycling Centre will help the sport of cycling grow in the future and underpins the future success of our elite athletes."
Meanwhile in Scotland, Chris Hoy’s triple Gold medal success in cycling is providing valuable support for the sport in Scotland.
In Glasgow it has been announced that the new National Velodrome being built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games would be named in Hoy's honour.
Glasgow council leader Steven Purcell said: "I can think of no better way of marking his historic success than by naming Scotland's only world-class track cycling facility after him."
The National Velodrome, being built next to the National Indoor Sports Arena in the east end of Glasgow, will be the new home for Scottish cycling and will host all of the track cycling events during the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
However this is not enough for Hoy, who has also joined appeals to save an Edinburgh velodrome, with the Scottish cyclist saying he could not have reached the Olympics without local facilities such as Meadowbank Stadium which is being threatened with downsizing.
Hoy said: "Elite sport cannot stand alone without local facilities giving kids the chance to get into the sport. I really hope Edinburgh is going to continue to produce world champion cyclists in the future but we cannot do this without a local facility."
