HOSTING a stage of an international women’s cycle race is estimated to have provided a £2million boost to the Warwickshire economy.
Organisers of stage 3 of the OVO Energy Women’s Tour on Friday June 9 – which finished on Leamington’s Parade – have
hailed the stage one of the best ever.
They have released their initial findings which include:
* The economic benefit from the stage is expected to total more than £2,000,000 in visitor spending
* Around 95,000 spectators lined the streets of Warwickshire to see the race, including an estimated 20,000 in Leamington (up from 75,000 overall and 15,000 in Stratford the previous year)
* Some 7,500 school pupils watched the race live
* An estimated 312,000 watched the coverage of the stage 3 screened on ITV4. The 2017 race was also broadcast in more than 100 countries, including every country in Europe
Organisers said the Atherstone to Leamington stage, which also passed through Southam and Wellesbourne, was one of the best in the four year history of the Women’s Tour in terms of racing, crowds, scenery and local planning.
Mick Bennett, Race Director of the OVO Energy Women’s Tour, said: “We would like to extend our thanks to the people of Atherstone, Leamington and Warwickshire for the way that they embraced the OVO Energy Women’s Tour and their support along the route.
“This year’s Warwickshire stage was a tremendous success with feedback from the riders and teams being universally positive about the crowds and the route, and we are delighted that the hard work from all of the partners involved paid off in such a spectacular way.”
Warwickshire County Council leader Izzi Seccombe was delighted with the feedback from the organisers.
She told The Observer: “In hosting the Women’s Tour, our aims as a county council are to boost the local economy with the many tourists who come to Warwickshire from outside of the county – to showcase Warwickshire to a wider global audience and to put the county on the map as a world-class destination for tourism, and to generate interest in cycling as a healthy pastime, particularly among our younger residents.
“We are very confident that we achieved these goals in no small measure and this wonderful news from the race organisers supports that view.”
Tour organisers also highlighted the work done in preparation for the tour, particularly the successful Guinness World Record attempt at Kenilworth School which saw 1,168 people form the largest unbroken human image of a bicycle.
Praise also went to the county’s highways team for the quality of the roads which were likened to a ‘billiards table’ by some riders.
WORLD-RECORD breakers in Kenilworth have had their achievement confirmed in writing.
Warwickshire County Council’s joint managing director Monica Fogarty visited staff and pupils at Kenilworth School where she presented a Guinness World Record certificate to commemorate the school’s success in creating the biggest ever human bicycle.
The record attempt at the school was organised by Warwickshire County Council to celebrate the return of the OVO Energy Women’s Tour to the county for a second successive year.
In total, 1,148 people, mainly comprising pupils and staff, took a painstaking hour to ensure they had created the bicycle without any breaks in the links under the watchful eye of the Guinness World Records adjudicator.
Their feat eclipsed the previous record of 891 people, set in Cumbria, during the Tour of Britain in 2015.
Kenilworth School headteacher Hayden Abbott said: “At the time I said how delighted I was for the students and for everyone involved that we had achieved a world record.
“This certificate is a permanent reminder of our accomplishment and I hope it will inspire future generations of students.”
An attempt the previous year at Warwick Castle failed as gaps in the wheels were judged too large.
