Could the first UCI combined cycling World Championships be heading to Glasgow in 2023?
In 2018 Glasgow co-hosted, alongside Berlin, the European Championships when the city welcomed athletes from seven sporting disciplines including track and road cyclists.
The event was building on the sporting legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in the city. Now Glasgow is aiming to be the first city to host the UCI combined World Cycling Championships in 2023. If they are successful in their bid it will be a major coup and boost for the city.
The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) is the world-governing body for sports cycling and associated international competitive cycling events. Currently, they run annual world championship events for all the different disciplines in cycling, but at different locations and on different dates.
This, on the face of it, seems perfectly reasonable as not all locations will have the ideal venues for a specific cycling event. The hosting city must have a world-class velodrome, mountain bike park, BMX track and so on; Glasgow already has all the infrastructure in place and has shown on several occasions it can deliver world-class events.
It would be a massive boost for the city with a massive interest from the worldwide media assured as their attention is turned to this inaugural event.
For cycling, in general, it will heighten the profile of less mainstream cycling events, such as BMX and bring parity and visibility to athletes who often are left overshadowed by the “big” events such as the road race.
Glasgow and UCI 2023
For spectators, it will be an amazing opportunity to watch the best athletes in the world in action on our home roads, tracks and trails. For a lifelong cycling fan such as myself, I really can’t explain how excited I am at such a prospect.
The only drawback will be managing to get to all the events I want to see – it really will be a veritable cornucopia of cycling, all wrapped up in one perfect bundle and happening just a few miles down the road from where I live.
But it won’t just be local spectators cheering riders on. You can expect Glasgow Airport to be jam-packed with thousands of fans from around the world arriving to cheer athletes onto over 200 World Championship medals.
The project itself is estimated to have a budget of £45 million with Glasgow City Council contributing around 30% of that cost, but an event on such a massive scale will have unlimited benefits for Glasgow and the Scottish economy.
Glasgow City Council and Event Scotland have until February to present their bid to the UCI and I for one have my fingers crossed. There will, of course, be nay-sayers and those bumping their gums about money being spent on such ventures.
Much is often spoken about sporting legacies left behind from major sporting events, and far from being a marketing slogan, such an idea is a reality and I see it regularly; my own children benefit from it, as do hundreds of others.
The Sir Chris Hoy velodrome in Glasgow is one such legacy, allowing riders, young and old, to experience the thrill of track riding, but it goes further.
Cycling facilities are starting to appear around the country with venues such as the track in Lochgelly in Fife. My children go to watch live cycling events and are inspired to ride and race themselves.
Being inspired to be involved in sport obviously has great benefits for the health of our nation and in turn our economy, but sport also has the ability to instil discipline, determination and commitment into our young people, all character traits that will serve the future of our young people very well indeed.
Where to spectate? UCI Track Cycling World Cup
Where: Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome Glasgow
When: November 8-10 2019
Details: The SCH velodrome last hosted the UCI Track World Cup in 2016 and spectators will again get a chance to watch the best in the world compete in Round 4 of the event in November 2019.
If you have never watched track cycling live, then you are in for a treat. The atmosphere inside the velodrome is electric and no matter where you are seated you are up close to the action.
You can register your interest and be first in the queue for tickets:
https://goo.gl/uiDNLJ
Join the Blazing Saddles Strava Club at: www.strava.com/clubs/BlazingSaddlesWeekendCourier
