It’s a Breeze for the Great Weston Ride
Posted Tuesday 7th May 2013 –
British Cycling’s Breeze, the biggest programme ever to get more women riding their bikes for fun, has joined forces with this year’s Great Weston Ride to encourage even more women to get out on their bikes and experience the enjoyment and sense of achievement that this West Country challenge ride offers.
The event, which is taking place on Sunday 21st July, starts in Bristol and then takes riders on a fabulous journey through the Mendips and across the Somerset Levels before finishing 56 miles later on the seafront in Weston-super-Mare.
Over 800 riders are expected to take part this year and the organisers – and Breeze – are hoping to see more women than ever giving it a go.
British Cycling’s Natalie Justice explained: “We know that the Great Weston Ride already attracts large numbers of women entrants, including lots of women who are taking on their first long-distance cycling challenge, and we’re going to work with the organisers to see if we can get even more women taking part. The whole ethos and feel of the event fits very nicely with what we’re trying to do at Breeze – there’s no pressure whatsoever on riders, it’s a very attractive and manageable route, and everyone’s really well looked-after from entry through to crossing the finish line. So it’s a great opportunity to encourage even more women to take on the Great Weston Ride and see for themselves what they’re capable of achieving.”
“This partnership is also a great way to mark the second anniversary of the Breeze programme, we’ve already helped thousands more women feel confident and comfortable about going on a ride and we have over 450 Breeze champions across England who organise bike rides on a daily basis. Without their amazing energy, enthusiasm and commitment to get women bike riding, we simply wouldn’t be able to offer these exciting experiences. And as a result of initiatives like Breeze, the number of women cycling has risen dramatically in the last 12 months – almost 63,000 more women are cycling regularly.”
Great Weston Ride Organiser Darren McKimm commented: “We’re absolutely delighted to welcome Breeze on board, and we feel very honoured to have been selected as one of the key events to help to promote the Breeze message – it’s a fantastic initiative from British Cycling, and we wholeheartedly support everything that Breeze is trying to do.
The Great Weston Ride is certainly a challenge, but it’s also very ‘rider-friendly’ and we think that it’s the perfect opportunity for women out there to find out what they can actually do on a bike. The support from Breeze is a tremendous ‘thumbs up’ for the Ride, and should help us to add to the large numbers of women who’ve already experienced the enjoyment and achievement that the Ride brings.”
The event certainly received lots of very positive rider feedback last year, typical of which was Becci Quick from Bristol, who commented: “As my first ever cycling event, I thought it would be intimidating setting off with the seasoned cyclists but everyone was so friendly, welcoming and encouraging that I loved the day and can’t wait to do it again and again. It was an amazing day.”
Tharshini, also from Bristol, added: “I decided to take part with a group of girls from work. I’m not especially brilliant on my bike so wasn’t looking forward to it but I have to say that it is one of my top ten most awesome experiences. We had such a great time and we’re definitely doing it again.”
Another rider, Caroline Guest, said: “It was my first big ride but what an experience and an amazing day! It was such a sense of achievement when I crossed the finish line. I would definitely recommend doing it.”
The Great Weston Ride is already a very popular event and, with the Breeze Network now also behind it, there’s every chance that there will be even more women taking part this year.
Further information, and details on how to enter, can be found at –
