Cyclist dies in the Lake District during coast-to-coast sportive

A 56-year-old woman has died in the Lake District while taking part in a coast-to-coast sportive

Police were called to Little Langdale in the Lake District in Cumbria at 9am on Saturday June 29, with the cyclist pronounced dead a short time later.

The woman has been identified as Katherine Moore from London. Her family have been informed and police say no-one else was involved.

The tragic incident took place on a downhill section at the start of the Coast to Coast in a Day 150-mile sportive from Seascale in Cumbria to Whitby, North Yorkshire.

Event organisers, Open Cycling, said in a statement: "With great sadness, we can confirm that a female adult participant taking part in the Coast to Coast in a Day sportive was involved in a fatal accident on a downhill section in the early stages of the event.

"The road was closed to all other traffic and there was no other vehicle or cyclist involved in this incident.

"Despite first aiders being on the scene within five minutes and the rapid attendance of both road and air ambulance, tragically her injuries were too serious to be able to save her.

"We are deeply saddened by this and our thoughts are with her family and friends. No issue has a greater priority for us than the safety of our participants, which is why we are fully committed to understand how this happened so we can help prevent anything similar from happening again.

"We are very grateful to the emergency services for their swift response and we will continue to liaise with them and the cyclist’s family to support them in any helpful way we can."

A 50-year-old man died at the Velo Birmingham and Midlands event in May.

Michael Lunn was airlifted to hospital but died as a result of his injuries.