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Middlesbrough outdoor velodrome aerial plan (source British Cycling)Middlesbrough's new outdoor velodrome opens this Friday
Britain’s latest velodrome will open for riding this Friday – a 250 metre outdoor track at Middlesbrough Sports Village, built at a cost of £1.6 million.
The new facility will sit alongside an existing closed road circuit, but as we reported last year, it hit a hurdle at the planning stage when Sport England raised objections that it would replace existing sports pitches.
It turned out that those hadn’t been used for more than two years, so the objection was withdrawn, and the new velodrome now forms part of the Middlesbrough Sports Village development.
£500,000 of the cost was met by British Cycling, whose coaching, education and development director, John Mills, quoted on the governing body's website, said: “We’re delighted that the Middlesbrough Velodrome is set to open this week.
“With less than one year to go until the Olympic and Paralympic Games, having another facility of this standard reflects the great progress that has been made in cycling infrastructure here in the UK.
“It’s fantastic that British Cycling clubs are going to have access to the track and therefore increase the spectrum of activities they are able to offer.
“Building our network of facilities will also help to ensure that anyone who wants to get involved in the sport has an accessible and affordable location nearby with support from British Cycling qualified coaches.”
He added: “We saw after London 2012 how many people were inspired to give cycling a go for the first time and this is one of many projects that British Cycling is currently involved in to develop more cycling facilities across the country.”
Councillor Lewis Young, Middlesbrough Council’s executive member for culture, leisure and sport, commented: “The Sports Village is an outstanding sports destination of regional significance, and the velodrome is a fitting addition to one of the best facilities of its kind in the country.”
Sessions for accredited cyclists will be held on Tuesdays and Fridays from 6-8pm, and on Wednesdays from noon-1pm, with further information available on the Middlesbrough Sports Village website.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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3 comments
Just read (elsewhere, they really need to sort out some better communication on their website!) that accreditation sessions will be happening in the future once hire bikes have been sorted out. Might be a while yet but looking positive. I think there will be a big take-up, lots of interest from north-east racers.
Just ridden this track this morning at the Grand Opening. Good track, basically the same as the one at York. Hopefully we'll have some decent weather to get some good sessions in.
You do need to be accredited though yes. If anyone is interested then probably the best place to sort that is down in York. They run loads of sessions and there is an level 4 accreditation session on the 26th once you've got a the requisite level 1-3 sessions under your belt.
Great, but initial communications suggest only accredited riders are allowed access? so unless youve done sessions elsewhere and can prove it the track seems to be closed to you, even for private hire. I imagine they will run some training and accreditation courses eventually but youd think that would be one of the first things they announce.