Cycling: Female participation on the rise

July 28, 2024

UK women demonstrate their pedal power as British Cycling’s Breeze Network continues to grow.

As the UK revels in the success of the Grand Depart, British Cycling’s Breeze Network has revealed that participation in its female-friendly programme has increased by 32% year on year, engaging over 50,000 women across the UK since its conception in 2011.

The announcement sees the women’s initiative on track to help British Cycling reach its target to sign up 1m women to cycling by 2020.

The latest British Cycling figures reveal that over five million women in the UK ride a bike and contribute around £50 million to the cycling economy. One million more women would like to take up cycling, but cite a fear of the roads and desire to find someone to ride with amongst the main deterrents to their participation.

Since its launch, Breeze has trained over 1000 women to become cycling champions – organising over 10,000 free rides for women in over 216 communities to get more confident and able on their bikes. The network has now introduced two longer events called Breeze Challenge for women wanting to train for a longer ride and progress their cycling ability.

Operating in partnership with Coventry City Council and Preston City Council, in association with Pennine Events, British Cycling’s Breeze Challenge Events will take place in Coventry & Warwickshire (5th October) and Lancashire (12thOctober) and offer a 50km ride and a longer 100km ride for women seeking an accessible introduction to riding more challenging distances.

British Olympian and Breeze ambassador, Emma Pooley, said of the increase in women’s cycling participation: “It’s fantastic to see so many women engaged with cycling. Though it was great to see so many people support riders in the Tour De France, the sport continues to be male-dominated and focused so getting girls involved at grassroots and encouraging community women’s cycling is so important.

“The Challenge Events are another example of how women’s appetites for cycling is constantly on the increase and introducing these new rides is crucial to giving women a fresh and exciting new aim.”

Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

More information: www.goskyride.com

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