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August 7th became a defining moment for UK Handcycling. It’s been nearly 5 years since the European Handcycle Circuit (EHC) was formed and since then Britain has been struggling to get onto the circuit. [The EHC is a combination of 8 races held during the season across the whole of Europe, for each race a rider accrues points that determine his European ranking].
Castle Combe Race Circuit was chosen for a number of reasons – ease of access to Channel ports, London & Bristol airports, but to make the day a real success though, I decided to turn it into a ‘Cycle festival’ to bring a variety of disciplines together but with a real emphasis on disabled cycling.
Fortunately I’d booked a hot sunny weekend and we had good representation from International riders, from Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and even two riders from Australia.
The ball started to roll when the UK was accepted onto the EHC as a member state and we have had representation on the Committee since last year. Since then we’ve persuaded the powers that be, that we should hold a race on British shores.
The mix of races, started firstly with the Leisure Lakes Road Race, followed by a ‘Fun Duathlon’ and then a well attended BHPC Recumbent race. The showpiece event was to be the EHC Handcycle race – a 42km road race around the circuit for the four distinct disability divisions of the sport.
Alongside all the races on the track was a ‘come-and-try-it’ event for handcycling. There were a large number of new people interested and I hope we’ve captured them into the fold of this great sport.
The Europeans certainly enjoyed themselves, as most of them were taken down to the village for a pie and a pint. The village, being one of the prettiest in the whole of England, is a fitting tribute to the area and I hope it’s garnished some memories for them all in making the effort to come to Blighty.
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