Routes unveiled for Lincoln’s 2015 British Cycling Championships

Lincoln and areas within the Lincolnshire Wolds will be hosting 2015’s British Cycling National Road Race and Time Trial Championships, and the routes for the events were announced on October 22.

Lincoln Grand Prix event organisers were awarded the championships in February 2014, after submitting a winning bid supported by a number of organisations, such as the council, Lincoln BIG and Karl McCartney MP.

At the launch, held at the Holiday Inn on Brayford Wharf North, Championship Organiser Ian Emmerson OBE discussed the new routes, alongside Lincoln Grand Prix 2007 winner Dean Downing.

The four-day event will run from June 25-28, featuring events such as the British National Time Trial Championships, being held at Cadwell Park and through the Wolds, Grand Prix Sportive and the Castle Criterium, and British National Road Race Championships.

Each of these races feature three events: women, under 23 men and elite men.

The Time Trial Championships will be held on June 25 in a loop around the Lincolnshire Wolds. Then, the annual Lincoln Grand Prix circuit will go ahead on June 28, with an extra starting loop added to the course.

Photo: Steve Smailes

Competing cyclists will ride through the city out to an area within West Lindsey District Council, before connecting to the Grand Prix circuit.

Men will cycle 125 miles (200 kms), eight laps of the GP circuit, while the women bike 68 miles (109 kms) with four laps of the circuit — both finishing in Castle Hill.

Other ideas in the works include a big screen in Lincoln Castle over the event, so visitors can watch the cyclists compete while out on the countryside circuits.

As well as being the 60th Lincoln Grand Prix, the championships visiting the county in 2015 also coincides with a number of over local events: the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, Lincoln Castle’s relaunch, and the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Lincolnshire Bomber County.

Photo: Steve Smailes

The Mayor of Lincoln, Councillor Brent Charlesworth, said: “Lincolnshire is the best county for cycling. Why? It has acres of countryside and The Wolds, pretty villages, all under huge, auburn skies.

“This has been nationally recognised as Lincolnshire has been honoured to hold the 2015 British Cycling National Road Race and Time Trial Championships in June, on a hilly surface, south of Louth. Also, there will be all these cycling events in the city which will be of an enormous benefit to both the county and city.

“We can expect some of Britain’s very best cyclists and thousands of visitors to the event. It is indeed the most important sporting event to be held in 2015 in Lincolnshire.

“This puts the county deservedly on the map as the UK’s cycling capital, and this is in no small part due to the efforts over the years of Ian Emmerson and his team.

“What an event for the city and county! I am looking forward to it, and I bet everyone else is too.”

See each route below: