Wednesday's British news round-up

• Wednesday, 11 March 2009
• Andrew Canning
• 0 Comments

---

HEAT IS ON FOR HOTCHILLEE
The HotChillee Challenge Team survived the scorching wind and a South African heat-wave in last weekend’s Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour in Cape Town.

The team, which was incidentally the first women’s international team to compete in the event, is celebrating two top ten finishes in the elite group, with Tanja Slater and Nikki Harris finishing ninth and tenth respectively.

Penny Krohn posted her 25th win in a row in the event, finishing first in her age category. In the men’s event, HotChillee’s Jerone Walters, a London-based Australian, finished second in the men’s invitational group.

Nikki Harris, from Derbyshire, who rode in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, said: “It was a fantastic experience and an amazing week spent with a real variety of people. The whole HotChillee team did their very best and it was great that Tanja and I managed to get good results.”

Tanja Slater, a former GB cyclist and international tri-athlete said: “The camaraderie in the HotChillee Challenge Team was brilliant and the Cycle Tour was rather interesting due to the very strong winds but it was a lot of fun to be racing again and I was pleased with my performance.”

While in Cape Town, the HotChillee team presented a cheque for £17,800 (260,000 South African Rand) to the Christel House charity which works to empower children through education. The money was raised by riders in last year’s London-Paris Cycle Tour.


(l-r): Emma Davies, Alice Monger-Godfrey, Grant Haskin (Executive Deputy Major of Cape Town), Nikki Harris, Tanja Slater and Penny Krohn

---

COUTTS IN TAIWAN
Britain’s Alex Coutts is currently racing the Tour de Taiwan stage-race.

The Heraklion-Nessebar rider finished 12th on the fourth stage around Changhua County today.

Coutts is currently 13th overall, 0-44 down on race-leader Peter McDonald (Drapac Porsche) with three stages remaining.

---

SUSTRANS AIMING TO GET MORE WOMEN CYCLING
Research from the sustainable transport charity, Sustrans, has shown that despite a recent boom in cycling in the UK, 79% of women are still adamant that cycling is not good for them.

Concerns for safety rank high amongst women’s reasons but, ironically, so does a lack of fitness and motivation. Age is also a factor with 17% of women considering themselves too old to cycle; this contrasts dramatically with the Netherlands where women over 65 ride three times the distance of 19 year-old British men.

The research, commissioned from BMRB, shows that whilst women aged 35-44 are the most likely to cycle, (and are cycling 50% more than many women half their age in the 15-24 age group), even 69% of this age group never cycle despite 68% of them having access to a bike.

Women in the South West of England and Wales are most likely to cycle (with the weather and hills not putting them off), whilst women are cycling the least in Scotland and the North West (where one in five women thought they were too old to cycle).

This year Sustrans is aiming to help women redress the cycling gender imbalance with activities designed to get more women on their bikes. A new website www.bikebelles.org.uk goes live on March 11 with information on getting cycling, what to wear, where to go and how to do it.

Sustrans will also be organising female-friendly cycle rides in the summer using traffic-free sections of the National Cycle Network.

Later in the year Sustrans will use the thoughts and concerns of women, gathered throughout the year, to inform its approach to UK governments with proposals on how to help more women get out and about on bikes.

www.sustrans.org.uk

---

WINNING START FOR GWR
The GWR team has already set the tone for March with an impressive winning streak.

U23 team rider, David Sinclair, has won three races the past week, both the Scratch and Devil races in Newport on Tuesday evening and more recently, Saturday’s 35-mile open road race in Woodlands, Dorset.

For more information on the GWR Team please visit: www.gwrteam.com


If you have any British news you would like to share, please contact andrew_canning@ipcmedia.com