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For more information visit the Tour’s national website: www.tourofbritain.co.uk
News & Updates
Businesses encouraged to help create a carnival atmosphere for the Tour of Britain - click here for more details
Norfolk's businesses are being encouraged to create a carnival spirit across the county for the Tour of Britain's arrival, with a chance to win £1000 for doing so.
Looking to build as much of a colourful race day scene on Norfolk's streets as possible, the County Council has produced a business pack for companies and organisations that want to show their support for the September 16 race.
The pack comes complete with colourful posters, images of the Tour, and 9 metres worth of blue, red and white bunting. But any display doesn't have to stop there - as whether decorating a shop window, front of premise, reception, or even the car park, the council will reward one business with £1000 and a VIP race day experience for making their premise look the most eye catching.
Businesses interested in taking part simply have to call 01603 224471 or email marketing@norfolk.gov.uk to get a business pack posted out to them and then get to work with the decorating.
Once completed, the business simply has to submit a photo to marketing@norfolk.gov.uk or post it to Communications Unit, Room 520, Norfolk County Council, Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR1 2DH by close of play on Thursday September 9.
A judging panel will then pick the top five, before visiting them on Monday September 13 to decide who wins the £1000.
The winning business will also win a VIP experience at the start in King's Lynn.
The business chosen as the runner-up will receive a VIP experience at the end of the race in Great Yarmouth.
Derrick Murphy, Norfolk County Council's Cabinet member for Cultural Services, said:
"We estimate that by hosting the Tour of Britain in Norfolk we will bring around £1.5 million into our local economy, through tourism revenue and knock-on spend to a number of related trades.
"It really presents a huge opportunity for many of our businesses, as on race day we hope to draw at least 70,000 people to the roadside and out and about in locations along the route - with many places planning activities to keep the crowd entertained for most of the day.
"For businesses directly on the route the opportunities are even greater, as there will be a television company recording the race, with the highlights package broadcast in over 100 countries around the globe.
"But you don't have to be along the route to take part, as this is just as much about building some excitement amongst the whole Norfolk community that the UK's biggest live sporting event is coming.”
Aside from the economic benefits of the race, the Tour of Britain offers a great opportunity for Norfolk County Council and partner councils to increase participation in cycling and sport in general locally, and continues the work that is being done to use London 2012 as a spring-board to boost uptake and performance in sporting and cultural pursuits in Norfolk.
Click here to see some of Norfolk’s most iconic Businesses
Cycle Response Unit ‘Tour de Norfolk’ 2010
On Friday September 17th 2010, a team of thirty dedicated ambulance cycle response staff will tackle the same gruelling 117 mile King’s Lynn to Great Yarmouth (via Norwich) route completed by the elite Tour of Britain cyclists the previous day. However, they will be completing the challenge on fully equipped ambulance cycle response units, each carrying around 45kg of extra weight!
Darren Rutterford East of England Ambulance Cycle Response Lead said
"We have a target of £3000 that we would like to surpass to enable us to purchase vital light-weight and compact lifesaving and monitoring equipment to be used on our Cycle Response Units across Norfolk and Suffolk.
We would be extremely grateful if anyone would kindly sponsor us, so we can continue to save lives in the East of England - your kind donation WILL make a difference!"
You can support the ambulance cycle team by clicking here to visit their Just Giving page.
You can check out the route that the riders will be taking with our ‘Route Maps’ in the Technical information section via the menu to the left.
Click here for more information about the Cycle Response Unit.
Bradley Wiggins to lead Sky at The Tour
Olympians Bradley Wiggins and Ed Clancy to lead Sky and Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta teams in The Tour of Britain
The Tour of Britain is pleased to announce that Bradley Wiggins will headline the Sky Professional Cycling Team’s line-up for this September’s Tour, in a six man roster that also contains top British riders Russell Downing, Steve Cummings and National Road Race Champion Geraint Thomas.
Bradley Wiggins
Fellow Olympian and National Circuit Race Champion Ed Clancy will lead the Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta team that also contains current Great Britain track cyclist Andy Tennant and double Halfords Tour Series winner and reigning British Cyclo-Cross Champion Ian Bibby For Welshman Geraint Thomas, who wore the White Jersey of Best Young Rider during the Tour de France, The Tour provides the chance to race in his British Road Race Champions jersey in Wales, as Stage Three of The Tour heads from Newtown in Powys to Swansea, a stage which features the fearsome Constitution Hill close to the finish.
Also named in Sky’s provisional line-up for The Tour are another duo of Brits, in Tour de Wallonie winner and fifth placed overall in last year’s Tour of Britain Russell Downing, and 2008 Tour of Britain runner up Steve Cummings.
Antipodean duo Matthew Hayman and Greg Henderson round out the Team Sky roster, as listed in the UCI Bulletin for The Tour of Britain. Australian Hayman is the current Commonwealth Games Road Race Champion, while New Zealander Henderson won the opening road stage of Paris – Nice this Spring, and finished on the podium in the Tour Down Under.
“We’re delighted to have Team Sky riding The Tour of Britain this year, particularly with such a strong line-up that shows they mean business for The Tour,” commented Technical Director Mick Bennett. “I’m sure fans in Wales will be particularly excited to see Geraint Thomas riding Stage Three into Swansea, while I know from meetings and events in Newham just how excited residents and in particular local children are at the prospect of our three Olympians racing on their streets in September. I know Bradley can expect a lot of support during the final stage, in what is of course London’s Olympic and Paralympic Borough. “Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta too have a strong team, with several riders who stand an excellent chance of being involved in London 2012. With five domestic British teams riding The Tour this year, there will be an interesting race within a race between those squads to see who comes out on top, and Motorpoint look to have a strong squad to do that.”
Provisional Sky Professional Cycling Team Tour of Britain line-up:
Steve Cummings; Russell Downing; Matthew Hayman; Greg Henderson; Geraint Thomas; Bradley Wiggins
Reserves: Chris Froome & Chris Sutton
Provisional Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta Tour of Britain line-up:
Ian Bibby; Ed Clancy; Jonathan McEvoy; James Sampson; Andy Tennant; Peter Williams
Reserves: Steven Burke; Malcolm Elliott; Andrew Roche
Further announcements on teams and riders taking part in The Tour of Britain, the UK’s biggest professional cycle race, will be made in the coming days and weeks.
East Norfolk School Sport Partnership: Inter Cycle Race Competition
On Tuesday 13th July Cliff Park Junior School played host to an inter cycle racing competition. The event was organised by Sustrans Bike It, Tri-A-Sport and British Cycling, it was also supported by the Great Yarmouth Cycle Club.
Along with Cliff Park Junior, teams of year 5 pupils from Caister Junior, Edward Worlledge Junior, Hillside Primary, Saint Nicholas Junior and Woodlands Primary competed in individual time trails then formed teams to compete in Italian pursuit races.
Kevin House, Bike it Officer for the schools, explained the Italian pursuit involves group riding, sprinting and cornering.
Each school was provided a cycle racing skills taster session by Simon Edwards of Tri-A-Sport from these events riders were selected to participate in the inter-schools event.
Caister Junior won the A team race against Hillside Primary and Cliff Park won the B team event in a very tightly contested race against Woodlands Primary.
All competitors received medals and trophies. From this event the schools will put forward teams to participate in an inter-schools cycle racing event held on Great Yarmouth Seafront at the end stage of the Tour of Britain, 16th September 2010.
Chris Tye, Head Teacher of Cliff Park Junior stated " the school is very pleased to host the first event of this kind. I am delighted to see such enthusiastic young cyclists from local schools enjoy competing against each other"
He added "that we hope the success of this event would prompt further inter school cycling events in the future."
Tour Of Britain Norfolk Stage Launch – The Forum, Norwich
The launch for the Norfolk stage took place at the Forum on the 21st June. The event was a great success with cycle themed entertainment laid on by Norfolk County Council. The acts ranged from an impressive display of percussive skills played on bicycle parts from Scrapbeat to tricks and stunts performed by local BMX guru Jason Bates.
Specially invited guests were treated to a reception where Deputy Leader of the Council and keen cyclist Derrick Murphy unveiled our new Tour of Britain website and a specially designed animation that shows the route and some of the key locations which the Tour will be passing through.
Watch the Norfolk Tour of Britain animation here
One of the most popular draws for the crowd was provided by the Wattbike challenge. Cycling clubs from across Norfolk competed in a 4kmTeam Pursuit on the Wattbikes. With a combined time of 16:09 minutes, North Norfolk Wheelers took an early lead but were beaten by the last team of the night to ride, VC Norwich, who raced home in 15:12 minutes. Each rider of the winning team took home a voucher for Streetlife Cycles donated by the shop. Simon Asher, the fastest rider of the night completed the 4km course in 04:56 minutes, winning himself a Tour of Britain jersey signed by the 2009 Sprint Category winner.
The winning team – VC Norwich!
The Tour of Britain 2010 Comes to Norfolk
117 miles of Norfolk’s Roads will be the route for the county’s largest ever live sporting spectacle, as the Tour of Britain cycle race heads across Norfolk on Thursday 16th September.
The Tour of Britain is the UK’s biggest professional bicycle race and a centrepiece of the British sporting calendar – with live television coverage in the UK, live internet coverage, and further television broadcast in over 100 countries. It is also the biggest free to spectate sporting event in the UK – attracting over a million spectators to the roadside.
The eight-day event will head through Norfolk at stage six with some of the world’s top cyclists competing for the right to wear the yellow jersey as stage winner. The route has been carefully chosen to highlight the best that Norfolk has to offer from iconic landmarks to areas of regeneration.
The Norfolk stage will begin at Tuesday Market Place in King’s Lynn in the morning and end mid-afternoon on South Beach Parade in Great Yarmouth. Points en route include old Hunstanton, Sandringham, Holkham Hall, Sheringham, Norwich, Hoveton and Horning, to name just a few.
Please visit ‘The Tour in Your Area’ via the menu to find out if the tour will be coming to a place near you!
Sponsors
The Norfolk stage of the Tour of Britain is proud to be sponsored by:
http://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/
http://www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/