News: Lincoln to Host Mens & Womens Championships

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The 2015 British Road Race and Time Trial Championships are awarded to Lincolnshire during historic year for Lincoln

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PRESS RELEASE - Lincoln to Host Mens & Womens Championships
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The Velo Club Lincoln Grand Prix organisers are delighted to announce that they have been awarded the 2015 British National Road Race and Time Trial Championships. This follows over a year of planning and a comprehensive bid to British Cycling. The event will also celebrate the 60th edition of The Lincoln Grand Prix first held in the City in 1956.

The Time Trial Championships for women, men under 23 and elite men will be held on Thursday June 25th in the picturesque Lincolnshire Wolds on an interesting and challenging circuit south of the market town of Louth. This is in the administrative area of East Lindsey District Council who have given their enthusiastic support.

The road races on Sunday June 28th will be based on the well known and exciting Lincoln Grand Prix circuit with an added starting loop taking both the women’s and men’s events out of the City through the West Lindsey District Council area before joining the Grand Prix circuit to complete the distance.

2013_Lincoln_12

Winner of the Lincoln GP in 2013 was Pete Kennaugh,  a multi medallist in the British Road Champs. Will 2015 be his year?

The men will cover a total distance of 125 miles (200 kms), including 8 laps of the GP circuit, the women 68 miles (109 kms) and 4 laps of the circuit before the finish in Lincoln’s Castle Square. The Lincolnshire County Council and the City of Lincoln Council have also been consulted on the plans and have been fully behind the bid for the championships.

Support for the bid has also come from Mr Tony Worth, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire; the Member of Parliament for Lincoln, Mr Karl McCartney JP; Vist Lincoln; Lincoln Business Improvement Group; Lincolnshire Media Group; BBC Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire Sport. Support has also been received from Lincolnshire Police and Lincolnshire Highways. The Velo Club Lincoln greatly appreciates the assistance of these and the many others who have made this bid a success.

Organiser Ian Emmerson said of the successful bid, ” We are obviously delighted to hear that British Cycling has accepted our bid to organise the 2015 British National Road Race and Time Trial Championships. We believe that our expertise will provide exciting and very challenging events with the Time Trials to be held on a hilly circuit in the Lincolnshire Wolds (No – Lincolnshire is not flat) and road races based on the well known and extremely popular Lincoln Grand Prix circuit and its cobbled 1 in 6 Michaelgate climb.”

“We have had tremendous support from all quarters for our bid which will also celebrate 60 years of The Lincoln Grand Prix. Coupled with the ever growing Sportive and other events during the 4 days from June 25th to 28th Lincolnshire will be the place to be for all cycling enthusiasts and bring a huge economic benefit to the area.”

East Lindsey District Council who will host the Time Trial Championships had this to say with East Lindsey District Council’s Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Councillor Adam Grist, saying “this is exciting news. The Lincoln Grand Prix Team has worked incredibly hard to bring this exciting opportunity to Lincolnshire and in particular East Lindsey. Over the coming months we will be working closely with the event organisers and local communities to ensure we can maximise the benefit of this event to the area. As a Council we are embracing new opportunities to attract visitors to the area and also encouraging healthy communities. This event fits well alongside many of our other initiatives.”

Entries for the championships can be expected from most of the well known names in British cycling and with the Tour de France starting the following weekend the possibility of wearing the elite champion’s jersey in that famous race will be hotly contested.

The last time a national championship road race was held in Lincoln was in 1968 when Colin Lewis beat John Aslin in an exciting finish for the British Professional Road Race Championship. The championships will also feature the 5th Lincoln Grand Prix Sportive on Saturday June 27th with an added all-comers uphill dash on Saturday evening and criterium events based around the beautiful Lincoln Cathedral on Friday evening.

June 2015 will also be the celebration of the 800th Anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, a copy of which is held in Lincoln Castle which will also open its gates to the public following extensive refurbishments to its walls and grounds together with the addition of a new museum and visitor centre.

2015 will be the 70th Anniversary of the end of World War 2 when a memorial to the 25,611 men from Bomber Command, many of whom flew from the 27 airfields in Lincolnshire, who lost their lives during the conflict is expected to open. The most famous raid is the Dam Busters raid which left from RAF Scampton which is adjacent to the road race route to be used in 2015 and now the home of the RAF’s crack aerobatics team, The Red Arrows. This memorial will be sited on a hill looking over the City towards the Cathedral and Castle on the opposite hill.

The 2014 Lincoln GP
The 59th Annual Lincoln Grand Prix Cycle Race and The West Common Junior Road Race Sunday May 11th 2014
As a prelude to the 2015 events, the 59th Lincoln Grand Prix on Sunday May 11th 2014 will be held over the same course and distance planned for 2015 with a Junior event added to act as a test for the proposed women’s championships.

The junior race wil be included in the British Cycling Junior Road Race Series. The 4th Lincoln Grand Prix Sportive which attracted over 1,300 riders in 2013 will be held on Saturday May 10th. The 2014 Lincoln Grand Prix will be the final counting event in the British Cycling Spring Cup series of major road races which will be contested by all the country’s major teams.

The 2014 Lincoln Grand Prix will have completed a distance of 61 miles (97 kms) when the riders cross the finish line for the first time before completing 8 laps of the Grand Prix circuit for a total distance of 125 miles (200 kms). The junior race will act as a model for the Women’s Road Race Championships and complete 36 miles (58 kms) before adding 4 laps of the Grand Prix circuit for a race distance of 68 miles (109 kms).

 

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