Barnsley is 'at the forefront of British cycling' with more than 10,000 people expected to visit the town centre on Wednesday to watch the National Closed Circuit Championships.
Barnsley-born Olympic champion Ed Clancy will lead a top class field of British riders who will race around a circuit on the streets. The event will be broadcast live for the first time – on Eurosport – and is another chance for Barnsley to establish itself as a major name in British Cycling after the Tour De France and the Tour De Yorkshire both came through the borough.
"Barnsley is at the forefront of British Cycling and it's brilliant for the town," said race organiser James Field. "We're hoping for 10,000 plus in the crowd. It will be a mixture of locals and cycling fanatics from further away.
"The Tour De Yorkshire and the Tour De France are great events but you get maybe ten minutes of action at the most and glimpse the big names like Ed Clancy for a fraction of a second. With this event, the riders will pass you tens of times so you will really be able to follow it as it unfolds."
Field is a member of Barnsley cycling club Team Cystic Fibrosis which resurrected the Barnsley Criterium after two decades last year. The event attracted 2,000 spectators and was so successful that British Cycling asked Field and his club – which has raised £50,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust since being set up five years ago – to stage the national championships in the town. Field said: "As a club, we wanted to bring something special to Barnsley and also to raise awareness of our cause."
The National Championships is often moved to different locations every year but Field is confident it will return to his hometown. He said: "We would love to bring it back and we think there is a good chance we will be able to in the future. We're hoping to make it a bigger event than ever before and it is the first time the whole thing has ever been broadcast live. It's a real coup for a relatively small town like Barnsley to get this event ahead of some big cities.
"In the past when it has been in Yorkshire it has been in cities like York and Hull which are obviously much bigger than Barnsley. I am really happy with the entry list. We've got all the top teams in the country competing. The cycling scene in Barnsley is growing massively at the moment. We have four clubs: Team Cystic Fibrosis, Birdwell Wheelers, Barnsley Road Club and Geared Up Cycles. It's fantastic."
Wednesday's event will begin with a 'support race' for amateur cyclists at 4.30pm. Dieter Droger from Hoyland won the support race at the Barnsley Criterium last summer but has not entered this time although there will be several riders from the town such as Mark Davies from Silkstone. The elite women's race is scheduled to take place from 6.30pm with the men's event set to follow at 8pm.
Clancy, who grew up in Ingbirchworth and attended Springvale Primary School, is among the biggest names in the men's race. Field said: "Ed didn't know whether he would be able to compete or if he would have a different training schedule. But he decided to do the omnium (a multi-discipline event) at the Olympics next year so he needs to build up his endurance."
Interview with Clancy in this week's Chronicle.
