Triple Olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy OBE will be on the starting line for the Newcastle Grand Prix pro cycle race, the headline event of the Staffordshire Cycling Festival on Sunday 11 August in Newcastle town centre.
Ed Clancy won gold with Team GB in the cycling team pursuit at the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He’s also won gold medals at six world championships and has his eyes firmly on an incredible fourth gold medal in Tokyo in 2020.
On Sunday 11 August he will be in Newcastle town centre to compete in the inaugural Newcastle Grand Prix as part of the Vitus pro cycling team, leading a field that boasts some of the best riders from some of the country’s leading professional teams.
The Newcastle Grand Prix will be a fast-and-furious, high-adrenaline race around an exciting town centre circuit. Racing starts at 5pm with a series of youth races before the pros take to the track.
A packed day of cycling fun for the whole family
The early-evening pro race is the headline event but the festival will host a range of fun, family-friendly activities celebrating everything cycling from late morning – when hundreds of amateur riders start arriving back in the town centre from their Staffordshire Cycling Festival sportive – until early evening, including:
- British Cycling pop-up coaching sessions for young riders on the start/finish line between 3.30pm and 5.00pm
- A roller racing challenge with Newcastle’s Lyme Racing Club – who will set the best time of the day over 500m?
- Granny Turismo – the world’s first and only shopping trolley dance display team –and Dexter the Dinosaur will be entertaining the crowds
- ‘Made from Moddershall Oaks’ will be offering the chance to do a five-minute fitness test – a taste of the services and classes they offer at their centre
- Local radio station The Hit Mix 107.5 will provide the soundtrack to the day from their roadshow stage on the start/finish line
- JW’s Holy Smoke will be serving up top-quality street food, and there will be a Lymestone Brewery outside bar.
The day gets under way at 8am with the Staffordshire Cycling Festival Sportive, a mass-participation cycle ride with hundreds of riders taking part in a route that starts and finishes in Newcastle town centre and takes in a 38 or 78-mile ride around the county.
Newcastle Business Improvement District (BID) has teamed up with cycling event specialists RideStaffs to bring Staffordshire Cycling Festival to Newcastle for the first time.
A fantastic, high-adrenaline experience
Rory Townsend wins the Stafford Grand Prix, the headline of the 2018 Staffordshire Cycling Festival. The event is in Newcastle on 11 August
RideStaffs director Paul Rowlands said: “Cycling is a great way of bringing family and friends of all ages together. There will be lots going on over the day, ending with the excitement of a professional race in the town centre. Anyone who hasn’t seen a pro race should come along – it’s a fantastic, high-adrenaline experience. And to have Ed Clancy on the starting line, one of the best pro cyclists in the world, makes it extra special.”
Viv Bradford, a director of Newcastle BID, added: “Having an event like the Staffordshire Cycling Festival in Newcastle town centre is wonderful – it not only brings a big pro cycle race and some big-name professionals to the town but actively encourages the community to get on their bikes and get involved too. This is a brand-new event for the town, fully funded through the BID levy, and one we are proud to be delivering.”
For more information or to register to ride the Staffordshire Cycling Festival Sportive, visit www.ridestaffs.co.uk/scf2019
