British Cycling Announces Participation Targets

British Cycling have announced plans to get one million more women on bikes by 2020.

The new target is part of the “vision for women’s cycling” scheme at the Department for Media, Culutre and Sport. The new plans aim to encourage more women to become coaches, members and officials as well as participating themselves.

Brian Cookson, president of British Cycling, said: “We have never been scared of a challenge. We are not saying we are going to be perfect, far less that we are perfect now. But the direction of travel is important. Our aim is to inspire one million more women to get on bikes and we are determined to make this happen.

“The next four years present a number of challenges, not least sustaining the elite success which has driven substantial rises in participation. A fair share of that elite success is due to the exceptional progress made by our women riders…. Now the challenge is to use that inspiration to effect significant change in the number of women cycling. Across sport, women’s participation levels are well behind men in just about every area so this will not be easy.”