Cumbria proposes bid to host British cycling national championships
Could the Lake District host a future edition of the British road race national championships?

Team Sky team-mates Peter Kennaugh and Ben Swift duel it out in the finale to the National Road Race Championships in Abergavenny. Kennaugh just outsprinted Swift to take the title.

Cumbria could bid for the rights to host a future British Road National Championships which could incorporate the Lake District.
A presentation in the county last week explained how Carlisle would be the start and finish point of the Championships.
The end-of-June Championships involve numerous laps of a circuit so the road race would not stretch deep into the Lake District but may include a climb of Honister Pass. If the circuit was to head east it could pass Hadrian’s Wall landmarks.
A time-trial route would more likely be confined to Carlisle and the area of closer proximity.
Mike James, whose idea it is, pointed to this year’s hosts Lincoln as proof that smaller cities can compete with comparatively larger hosts.
>>> Lincolnshire to host 2015 British Road National Championships
“No offence to Lincoln but if they can do it, we can – we are Carlisle. It would bring national live television here, and I want to get people like Jason Gooding (Carlisle City Council CEO) and the like to make it happen in Carlisle,” he said.
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The area has strong links with the powers-that-be in the sport, having struck up a four-year deal with Tour of Britain organisers SweetSpot last year that ensures that the region hosts a stage of the ToB in the next four years or a leg of the Tour Series.
The plans to bring the nation’s best cyclists to the region are only in their preliminary stage with James delivering his outlines to Carlisle Ambassadors, a scheme set up by the local authority to give local businesspeople the opportunity to put ideas into practice.
Source: in-cumbria
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A freelance sports journalist and podcaster, you'll mostly find Chris's byline attached to news scoops, profile interviews and long reads across a variety of different publications. He has been writing regularly for Cycling Weekly since 2013. In 2024 he released a seven-part podcast documentary, Ghost in the Machine, about motor doping in cycling.
Previously a ski, hiking and cycling guide in the Canadian Rockies and Spanish Pyrenees, he almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains. He lives in Valencia, Spain.