On 6 September British Cycling launched a flagship film unveiling its ‘Strategy To Paris 2024’ following the stunning, medal-winning success of UK cyclist at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games across track, road, BMX and mountain bikes.
Voiced by British freestyle BMX star and Olympic gold medalist Charlotte Worthington and developed and produced in tandem with agency We Are Fearless, the video and the plan it promotes outlines how the organisation aims to continue to grow the sport and enable more people within its communities to discover cycling.
The launch aims to act as a rallying cry to all involved with cycling in Britain to join the movement ahead of Paris and is focused on leading the sport, inspire the communities and guide cycling through to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games while simultaneously supporting the development of the sport’s grassroots.
The strategy spans seven priority areas and the key targets include:
> Growing the organisation’s membership to 250,000.
> Driving a 20% rise the number of cycling clubs and the young people riding in them.
> Creating a new development plan to support non-Olympic and Paralympic discipline.
> Broadening the range of commercial partners working with British Cycling.
> Increasing representation of disabled people, people from diverse ethnic communities, LGBTQI people and people from lower income households within cycling.
“It brings me great pride to present a new purpose and strategy for British Cycling today, guiding our path to Paris and a vibrant, prosperous future for our organisation,” commented British Cycling Chair Frank Slevin. “Since beginning my tenure as Independent Chair in January 2018 we have introduced considerable changes to the ways in which we govern our sport and activities, welcomed new members to our Executive Leadership Team and board of directors, and made great strides towards strengthening our diversity and connection with the grassroots of the sport. With our new strategy in place we now have an excellent platform to build from, and I and the Board look forward to supporting the organisation and its leadership team in bringing it to fruition.”
“We’re absolutely delighted to begin working with British Cycling following their incredible Tokyo success to help launch a bolder and more inclusive strategy ahead of Paris 2024,” added We Are Fearless Founder Garry Dodds. “They’re an iconic sport with an incredible opportunity to grow British Cycling by satisfying people’s deeper motivations. We’re proud to have used our HumanValues insight tool to craft creative assets to launch British Cycling’s new strategy whilst ensuring they always resonate at that deeper psychological level.”
The full strategy document is available online via the British Cycling Website.
Comment:
Team GB topped the cycling medal table at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer in Tokyo and surpassed the total number of medals won at each of London 2012 and Rio 2016 with ground-breaking successes in mountain biking, BMX and BMX freestyle, as well as in several track and road disciplines.
In tandem with this elite level success, in recent years the organisation has also surpassed its target to get one million more women cycling, while its HSBC UK partnership has inspired two million more to get on their bikes.
Growing its membership base from 14,000 at the turn of the millennium to 150,000 in 2021, British Cycling works for its members and the umbrella cycling community through its members, staff and advocates (including Policy Adviser Chris Boardman and Policy Advocate Dame Sarah Storey) to lead the charge for safer roads for cycling.
The new strategy will further build on this work with further long-term plans to support the development and growth of each of the seven cycling disciplines and the organisation’s first holistic strategy for equality, diversity and inclusion.
“As another incredible summer of cycling draws to a close, today I’m delighted to present a new purpose, strategy and vision for British Cycling, with the ambition of extending our proud history of medal success, renewing our commitment to the grassroots of the sport and making our organisation more relevant, inclusive and familiar to Britain’s communities than ever before,” said British Cycling CEO Brain Facer at the launch.
“Whether through the stand-out successes we’ve seen in BMX, freestyle and mountain biking, our ground-breaking partnerships or our commitment to embedding diversity in everything we do, we’ve already taken great strides towards becoming a more forward-looking, dynamic and welcoming governing body. We will always take pride in leading our sport by nurturing the good health of each of our disciplines, and I now truly believe we are on the cusp of an exciting new era not just for British Cycling but for everybody who rides a bike. This strategy is the product of more than 10,000 written submissions and over 80 roundtable discussions, and we’re incredibly thankful to all those who have contributed, and to our members, volunteers, partners and funders for their vital and ongoing support.”
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