Town Centre News

Flying high for Tour of Britain!

Posted on 09/09/2010

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 As world, Olympic and commonwealth cycling champions head to Rochdale this Saturday for the Tour of Britain bike race, the cheering crowds will be waving flags designed by 8-year-old Lucy Grogan.

Lucy, from St Edward’s CE Primary School, Castleton, was told she was the winner of the ‘Design a Flag’ competition on her first day back at school, and she and her family will now be VIP guests at the weekend race.

The competition, organised by Rochdale Borough Council and sponsored by the Council’s local education partner, Inspiredspaces, asked children from schools across the borough to design a flag that captured the spirit of the race - the UK’s greatest bike race - and the fact that it was coming to Rochdale.

Lucy’s colourful design showing the sun shining down on Rochdale Town Hall, the backdrop for the start of the gruelling 8-day cycling challenge, was judged by Council officers and Inspiredspaces to be the best and it has now been reproduced on 5,000 flags.

Councillor Dale Mulgrew, Cabinet Member for Development, went along to the Hanover Street school to congratulate Lucy and after meeting her he commented: “We had almost 200 entries for the competition and the standard was really high but Lucy’s stood out; it was so colourful and really captured the pride we feel in the Tour coming to Rochdale.

“This is a real coup for our town to be hosting the start of this world class race; it’s really exciting. Thanks to TV coverage millions will see what Rochdale has to offer. With the race starting in the town centre and outside the Town Hall we’ve got the chance to showcase our heritage and as the cyclists head out over Ashworth Moor, people will see our spectacular landscape. It promises to be a fantastic event. I urge people to come out and support the cyclists and get behind Rochdale.”

Claire Butler, General Manager of Inspiredspaces, said: “Along with our key supply chain partner Carillion, we are delighted to sponsor this competition. This is a really prestigious event and it’ll be great for Lucy to see her design on the thousands of flags being waved along the race route. We received lots of good designs, but we were particularly impressed with Lucy’s which we felt said the most about the race coming to Rochdale.”

And proud head teacher at St Edward’s, Lynne Coxell, said: “We are really enthusiastic about cycling at the school. We encourage children and parents to cycle to school and we take the children on bike rides around the borough to teach them about road safety. We are absolutely delighted that Lucy’s design has won and she is thrilled. She can’t stop smiling!”

The Tour of Britain is the UK’s greatest bike race. 100 world class cyclists will start the race in front of the Town Hall at 10.30am with a fanfare by Rochdale Borough Youth Band and the striking of the Town Hall clock marking the start of the 2010 race.

From 8am to 1pm there’s a Tour Festival with everything from dancing bikes and a climbing wall to a bouncy castle, a vintage bike display and face painting. There’s also special offers from town centre businesses who are backing the Tour of Britain coming to Rochdale.

The Town Hall car park will be closed for the race and there will be no parking on the Esplanade. To find out more go to www.rochdale.gov.uk/tourofbritain