Review of Womens tour through Swadlincote

Last Saturday, 18th June, saw the Aviva Womens cycling tour come through Swadlincote on stage 4 between Nottingham and Stoke.

Flags were in plentiful supply

The leaders approach.

The race featured Stage 3 winner and eventual tour winner Lizzie Armistead in a prominent position.  The race approached Swadlincote via Hartshorne and Woodville where a sprint took place and featured on the ITV4 highlights show.  Unfortunately neither Swadlincote or Newhall featured in the highlights and neither did Burton.  There are several good videos on social media of the event.

Gone in a flash!

The peloton 

Our vantage point was on the far corner of Eureka Park on the Midway Road side turning into Newhall Road at the mini roundabout.  As the race approached there was the normal convoy of police outriders and marshalls followed eventually by the peloton then the support vehicles and finally a couple of riders who had fallen back.  At the point the ride arrived in Swadlincote the main group were pretty much all together rather than there being a breakaway group.

 We were invited to display at the come and try it event in Eureka Park itself along with several other groups including Cycle Derby, Active Nation, Desford Lane Pedallers, Extreme Cycling Roadshow and the South Derbyshire District Council Sport and Health team themselves.

The event gave local youngsters and families the chance to try out a number different cycling activities and also marked the launch of a new leaflet about the cycling trails around Swadlincote.  The leaflet has been produced by a combination of ourselves, Swadlincote Tourist Information Centre and South Derbyshire Sport.  With a few tweaks from the original version and an excellent design the leaflet looks great and I hope it inspires families to hit the trails.

The event was covered by Swadlincote TV who have produced a very smart and concise media presentation (that's video to anyone born in the 80's or before) which is linked below.  The presentation features, amongst several interviews, an excellent summary of the work being done to encourage cycling in the local area, including the opening of the cycling hub at Green Bank Leisure Centre.

Click here to see Swadlincote TV video presentation

Our stall focused mainly on the ever popular selection of maps, gratefully received from the 3 local authorities.  We also had our spin art bike for the first time which our colleagues up in Ashbourne had used the day before at their tour event.  After a few initial issues some of our visitors were producing truly abstract pieces of art!  At this event I was joined by fellow volunteers Robert and Siu and also Cathy from Sustrans regional office in Nottingham.  All in all we had a great day, though we thought the event deserved more footfall (the weather took a while to brighten so may have deterred a few)

Aviva Women's Tour Stall 2016