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Plan unveiled for Colchester's Tour of Britain party

6:00pm Monday 16th August 2010 in


PLANS for a cycle-themed fun day have been unveiled for when the Tour of Britain comes to Colchester.

Nearly 100 international cyclists will pedal into the town centre at the end of stage seven of the tour, on Friday, September 17.

Tens of thousands of spectators are expected to cheer on the competitors as they whizz past on the route from Bury St Edmunds to the top of East Hill in Colchester.

But while there will only be a brief flurry of excitement as the cyclists reach the finish line at about 2pm, a whole day of activities is on offer in Castle Park.

The Tour of Britain cycle festival will see schools activities before the race, and more family activities taking place in the afternoon.

After an official civic ceremony to start the event, at about 10am, there will be a series of rides for children to the finish, from Wivenhoe, High Woods, Tiptree and elsewhere.

Other highlights will include a bike-powered music area, a mobile BMX park and grass track racing. There may also be a “Pimp My Bike” stand.

Visitors will be able to look around Colchester Castle for £1.

After the race, the cyclists and their bikes will be in Hollytrees Meadow for an hour, meeting the public and signing autographs.

Last year about 25,000 spectators descended on the town for the Tour Series race.

More are expected to converge next month to watch the riders race down Maldon Road and past Colchester Zoo, before heading along Southway, Magdalen Street and Brook Street and cycling up East Hill.

The Tour of Britain starts in Rochdale on September 11, finishes in London on September 18.

Comments(11)

Anna Key says...
6:26pm Mon 16 Aug 10

Will there be the total chaos and complete lack of thought for us bus commuters that happened last year? I'm certainly not against this, but last year we were told in advance of the event that there would be normal bus services until 9AM on the day. But then on the actual day the buses were rerouted much earlier making me and many others late for work. Why should public transport always be held in such low regard?

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seikothrill says...
6:57pm Mon 16 Aug 10

The article is timed at 18:00 on website and the first moan is at 18:26, a whole 26 minutes.

The disruption is for one day and there has been plenty of notice to make alternative arrangments.

As a non car owner I also rely on the buses to get to and from work but I am happy to suffer for one day as personally I think it is a mjor coup for the town to be selected as a venue for such a prestigious sporting event. I just wish the council would back/ support more such events. They bring a lot of welcome business to the dying town centre and it is a great advertisement for the town (subject to the council not ballsing it up)

Anyway I suppose I will be in the minority

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Anna Key says...
7:11pm Mon 16 Aug 10

Happy to suffer the inconvenience. But I just want to know in advance of the arrangements, and not have it all changed on the day!

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Tamarin says...
7:45pm Mon 16 Aug 10

seikothrill wrote:
The article is timed at 18:00 on website and the first moan is at 18:26, a whole 26 minutes.

The disruption is for one day and there has been plenty of notice to make alternative arrangments.

As a non car owner I also rely on the buses to get to and from work but I am happy to suffer for one day as personally I think it is a mjor coup for the town to be selected as a venue for such a prestigious sporting event. I just wish the council would back/ support more such events. They bring a lot of welcome business to the dying town centre and it is a great advertisement for the town (subject to the council not ballsing it up)

Anyway I suppose I will be in the minority
I totally agree it's fantastic news the Tour of Britain is passing through Colchester but as to the council ballsing it up, it's a bit late. The 1st Tour Series last year was great pr for biking and Colchester, especially when it has aspirations to be recognised for promoting cycling, yet this year they couldn't even be bothered to secure the funds for a second visit.
Lets just hope that the council is more awake for the third season.

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Feisty CBC says...
8:20pm Mon 16 Aug 10

Last years' cycling event was a great success and that's why it has attracted the Tour of Britain this year. I will be plotted up at the bottom of Brook Street just to watch the crashes :/ Be prepared to queue if you are expecting to get into the castle for a quid.

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Boris says...
8:33pm Mon 16 Aug 10

CBC would have had to pay £30,000 for the privilege of hosting the Tour Series again. They chose to give the money to the Mercury Theatre insteads, which is fair enough. Given that we have the Tour of Britain lined up for this year, it was fair enough to let another town take our slot in the Tour Series.
If a Mark Cavendish, Rebecca Romero, Nicole Cooke or Chris Hoy had grown up locally, then we should pull out all the stops to host lots of races. But they didn't. So we should be happy to have two good cycling events in successive years.

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Feisty CBC says...
9:07pm Mon 16 Aug 10

Boris wrote:
CBC would have had to pay £30,000 for the privilege of hosting the Tour Series again. They chose to give the money to the Mercury Theatre insteads, which is fair enough. Given that we have the Tour of Britain lined up for this year, it was fair enough to let another town take our slot in the Tour Series. If a Mark Cavendish, Rebecca Romero, Nicole Cooke or Chris Hoy had grown up locally, then we should pull out all the stops to host lots of races. But they didn't. So we should be happy to have two good cycling events in successive years.
Totally agree, something for everyone in Colchester, Boris :) But as for the VAF (formerly known as the bus station) I think we will all pass.

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love Dr says...
1:30pm Tue 17 Aug 10

the Vaf could be a bike store and public toilets for the event when they come to colchester

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romantic says...
5:09pm Tue 17 Aug 10

Excellent news. I shall be skiving off work for a couple of hours to find a good spot. Bottom of Brook Street sounds a good place. It's on my daily trip to and from work, but never get a chance to do it at pace! Anna Key, I know it's not practical for everybody, but if you can, why not cycle for the day as well? That way, you can skip around the traffic with a smug grin and not have to worry about the buses.

Seriously, this is a good thing to get for the town, and should be a good day! Yes, some people will have their journeys disrupted a bit, but it's not the end of the world, is it? Personally very much in favour of this.

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colchesterguy says...
5:13pm Tue 17 Aug 10

Who makes up the figures?
Your telling us that 25,000 people turned up to watch this event?
Thats a 3rd of the V festival crowd turning up, thats just not true is it?
the town would be over run!
Where did the figure come from?
Did it actually cost £30k to bring it to the town last year? Perhaps they could fund the christmas lights instead of expecting the traders to pick up the tab, if they are wasting money on these big events or even put some money into the free festival?
How about finding out the truth?

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Simon Taylor says...
6:45pm Wed 18 Aug 10

Not sure about the "official civic ceremony", though I'm sure that every mayor on the Tour de France gets to cut a ribbon.
The rest of it sound brilliant. Can't wait!

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