Mark Tancock, CTC's Community Cycling Development Officer working within Reading Borough Council is working with partnership organisations to deliver a programme of activities to increase levels of cycling for recreation, everyday local trips and travel to and from work, with a particular focus on those who are currently insufficiently active for their health.

The project is based at Palmer Park as part of the Sport Reading team which promotes and delivers sport and physical activity for all sectors of the Reading community, from encouraging participation for health benefits through to developing  future elite athletes and world champions.

The project fits into Reading Borough Council's Local Strategic Partnership, the Healthier Reading Partnership and will assist in achieving Reading's target to increase adult participation in physical activity. Mark will connect partnership organisations across Reading who have an influence and investment in cycling such as Reading Borough Council (Sport Reading, Transport and Sustainability teams), CTC Reading, Reading Cycle Campaign, Reading Cycle Club, Palmer Park Velo junior club, Thames Valley Police and more.

 Reading Borough Council recently hosted the first stage of the Tour of Britain at Palmer Park Sports Stadium. 12 departments and organisations with an interest in cycling in Reading provided a host of information stalls and taster sessions for visiting children and adults. Over 200 school children from 6 schools attended to watch the Tour of Britain event and find out more about cycling locally. 32 Reading Rising Stars from Palmer Park Velo lead the elite riders at the start of the race around the velodrome and through the Park. Reading Cycle Club ran a Folding Bike Challenge that set the scene fantastically with a show race for the spectators. Palmer Park Velo ran junior track taster sessions for 3 visiting schools and over 100 children took part in British Cycling "Go Ride" junior cycling taster. 14 adults from local learning disability day centres and 8 children with disabilities from the Avenue School tried cycling on adapted bikes through Sport Reading's Everybody Active programme and Bikeworks. The morning finished with the Reading Rising Stars racing competitively watched by local schools. The event brought together cycling organisations in Reading for the first time and the success of the event and partnerships formed shows the huge potential for the CTC Cycling Champions project in Reading

To find out more about the Big Lottery funded Cycling Champions initiative, please click here.