British Cycling Reveals Participation Targets
British Cycling has unveiled plans to get one million more women riding bikes regularly by 2020 after launching the ‘vision for women’s cycling’ scheme at the Department for Media, Culture and Sport.
The plans, as well as aiming to increase overall participation, are also intended to encourage more women to become coaches, members and officials.
Brian Cookson, president of British Cycling, which has been shortlisted for the BT Sport Industry Awards Sport Governing Body of the Year Sponsored by The Telegraph, said at the launch: ‘We have never been scared of a challenge. We are not saying we are going to be perfect, far less that we are perfect now. But the direction of travel is important. Our aim is to inspire one million more women to get on bikes and we are determined to make this happen.’
Cookson added: ‘The next four years present a number of challenges, not least sustaining the elite success which has driven substantial rises in participation. A fair share of that elite success is due to the exceptional progress made by our women riders…. Now the challenge is to use that inspiration to effect significant change in the number of women cycling. Across sport, women’s participation levels are well behind men in just about every area so this will not be easy.’
