Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Wiggle Etape Cymru to dispense with closed roads for 2015?

Organisers seek to minimise disruption to local communities as councillor laments "four years of hell" for residents...

Next year’s Wiggle Etape Cymru may not take place on closed roads, or may have only partial closures according to organisers, in part to minimise the disruption to local people.

This year’s event, billed as “the UK’s toughest closed road sportive” saw more than 2,000 riders join former Wales and British & Irish Lions star Gareth Thomas last Sunday to tackle the 85-mile route.

BBC News North East Wales says that organisers had made some changes to this year’s route “to reduce the impact on certain areas,” were considering holding it on open roads, perhaps with some localised closures, next year.

Kirsty Wilde, operations director of Human Race which organises the event, said they had already told councillors and other relevant parties about potential changes, including holding it on open or partially open roads.

But while last year’s event was hit by sabotage as tacks and nails were spread on the road, she emphasised that riders received a friendly reception on Sunday, saying: "The cyclists were overwhelmed by local support throughout the route as lots of spectators welcomed them to their community and cheered them on with homemade signs giving them the extra push they required."

Denbighshire County Council’s lead member for leisure, Councillor Huw Jones, said: "This event is fast earning a reputation as a prestigious event in the cycling calendar, with increasing number of participants making their way to north east Wales to compete in the race."

The event has met with some opposition, however, with one local councillor claiming last month that residents of Penycae, the ward he represents, had endured “four years of hell” as a result of road closures associated with the one-day event.

Councillor John Phillips told News North Wales: “We have had year on year of this and the people of Penycae have had enough. Why should we lose out when other parts of the borough benefit financially?

 

“In this day and age it is totally unacceptable for this to happen. There are other parts of the county that have never had this race and it should be their turn.

“We have had four years of hell and it is time for a change. People have been made prisoners in their own homes.”

He went on: “The community of Penycae has been affected year on year by the long road closures and quite frankly residents need a break.

“There are many parts of Wrexham that offer the terrain and challenges that Penycae does and I would respectfully ask the race organisers to look at these locations for the 2015 event.”

At the time, Ms Wilde pointed out that Human Race had kept locals informed over plans for the route of the 2014 event, including holding drop-in sessions in partnership with Wrexham Council.

“Human Race have a strict post event review policy which includes route reviews and the collation and review of feedback received from the local community and the councils,” she explained.

“The 2013 review process also included attendance at the Wrexham scrutiny committee. As part of this process we identify and scrutinise all alternative routes available, considering their local impact and the safety of all involved and, where improvements can be made and are safe to do so, they will be implemented.

“Following the 2013 review we have implemented the recommendations that scrutiny submitted. These included for example a reduction in closure hours, and for Penycae not to be on the route twice.”
That resulted in the length of road closures at Penycae being cut from 10 hours to seven hours this year.

“We have reduced the closures in Wrexham by between three to four hours from last year,” she added.

The event which starts and finishes at Bangor-on-Dee racecourse and includes the climb of the Horseshoe Pass, raises significant amounts for charity, among them the Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham.

Its fundraising and events manager, Margaret Hollings, said: “The hospice is proud to be local charity partner to the Wiggle Etape Cymru again.

“It is a hugely successful local event for Nightingale House, attracting 55 participants from Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire.

“Judging by the success of the previous two years, the hospice could expect to benefit from more than £10,000 in sponsorship. This makes a real difference, funding local palliative care.

“We cannot thank the organisers Human Race enough for their support.”

Following this year’s event, Councillor Phillips accepted the role it plays in raising money for good causes.

"I'm totally for all the charities that benefit from this race - I must stress that,” he said.

"But I have asked the race organisers why we can't reduce the length of closures, or alternate the route somehow, so that the same places are not affected every time."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

19 comments

Avatar
J90 | 9 years ago
0 likes

It's one day a year you sad fucks.

Avatar
ironmancole | 9 years ago
0 likes

Hell? Crikey, they must lead charmed lives if around 40 hours of closed roads out of 35060 hours (4 years) constitutes a literal hell.

On average UK motorists sat in congestion for 29 hours this year, 72 hours in London so is this counsellor doing anything about that?

Closed roads for good charitable causes. Let's be honest, if motorists could be trusted not to add to the 5 a day fatalities and 70 odd seriously injured there'd be no need to even close the roads. We'll ignore that though eh?

Is the councillor addressing that maybe? Course not, far too much like credible and worthy political work.

Avatar
Robgriff | 9 years ago
0 likes

I've ridden last two but couldn't this year and also live on the climb up to the Panorama, as such our road was closed most of the day as the least two years.

I and the neighbours I've spoken to don't have a problem with the road closures, it's one Sunday a year and the event has to be a positive for the area.

I actually painted a fence, all the window frames and cut the grass as I watched the riders passing so staying put was actually a result.

PS all the riders who commented on the cooking smells when returning past it was a full Sunday beef roast with roasties and everything and yes it was awesome.

Rgds
Rob

Avatar
ct | 9 years ago
0 likes

Ah well if the gogs don't want it....you only have to look at the positive effect that the Ironman Wales got last week to see what an event that is bought into by the locals can achieve.

Will be interested, as a Taff, to see how noisy the NIMBYs are when the velothon hits Cardiff next year...

Avatar
60kg lean keen ... | 9 years ago
0 likes

Its a shame that this is still a problem, I spent a chunk of Sunday and Monday defending cycling and cyclist to a few that know Me and so believe I would be the person to moan at about this day (Penycae is my home village). I raised all the above points, that they all have had notice for a very long time prior, maps flyers posted with contact details to gain support advice, its one day a year! It brings lots of people into the area. I also witnessed a rise in the positive too which is a good thing.
The one problem that I see and what makes our area special is that we have some of the best cycling around which is accessible to a large part of population, but we are also not a rural community and the conurbations of Acrefair – Penycae – Rhos and others around have populations of a large towns and so such events impact large amounts of people, who also have only had 4 years to get use to this inconvenience. The suggestion of only partial closers could work, yes the Horse shoe pass – Panorama – Worlds end could be run on closed roads including other sections dependent on route, but bits in between open but policed by marshals. I just hope that this event will continue for the long term and in future it will become part of our yearly calendar!!!

Avatar
RobD | 9 years ago
0 likes

I'm not sure what prisons are like over that side of the country, but from what I gather over this way is that prisoners aren't restricted to being in a building for a few hours once a year, and I'm pretty sure they don't get let out if they ask and wait for a little bit of organisation to let them pass. Could be wrong though...

Avatar
joe24737 | 9 years ago
0 likes

Take away the closed road element and it becomes just another sportive in an already overcrowded market. I wouldn't travel the 250mile round trip like I did this year.

Avatar
Initialised | 9 years ago
0 likes

Boycott it until Wiggle grow a pair and stop pandering to NIMBYism.

Avatar
Gasman Jim | 9 years ago
0 likes

This is my local event & I've ridden it for the past 3 years. Quite a few of my colleagues are inconvenienced by the road closures, although I don't detect any animosity.

Looking at the bigger picture it's just one Sunday in a whole year. Early on a Sunday morning most of these roads are very quiet any way. I think the problem comes from the length of time the road closure is in place for the latter part of the route. I was round in under 5 hours, but there are stragglers rolling in at 8 or 9 hours. Perhaps the answer is to curtail the duration of the closure but allow the slower riders to continue on open roads.

Alternatively, I think relocating the event on a rotational basis to different areas of North Wales each year is a good idea. It would give the Penycae locals a break, and I'd fancy a different route for a bit of variety.

Finally, we have a huge problem with obesity in the Wrexham area. Perhaps we should have more of these events to demonstrate that abstinence from use of the motor car is possible, and that exercise is no bad thing.

Avatar
Al__S | 9 years ago
0 likes

I rode this- and loved it (though, not entirely at the time!). I did notice there properties with small signs indicating they had some sort of pass to get in and out. And we were warned there may be vehicles on the course despite the "closed road" status.

So, the roads are shut to through traffic, and access is limited- but not impossible.

I bet Cllr Philips gets upset by cyclists in the area when the roads are not closed, too...

Avatar
samwstraw | 9 years ago
0 likes

I rode the event last weekend. Fantastic route and on closed roads it was absolutely amazing. I was really struck by the way the locals were out supporting the event, sitting by the side of the road waiting for the cyclists to come past. The amount of cheering on we got was really refreshing and we were all made to feel .extremely welcome. I don't think I would have had the same enthusiasm if I had been stuck in my house for most of the day unable to leave, for an event I had nothing to do with. I completely understand any frustrations expressed but am glad that it is from a tiny minority.

Avatar
Meaulnes | 9 years ago
0 likes

Technically it's four days of hell, spread out over four years…

Avatar
kraut replied to Meaulnes | 9 years ago
0 likes

Technically, it's four days of moderate inconvenience, spread over four years.

Geez. I just did the Great North Run. That basically shuts down a good chunk of Newcastle, the motorways, and South Shields, and it's been going for decades. The locals don't seem to complain - on the contrary, they come out in their thousands and cheer the runners on.

As to roads being closed for "commercial ventures": That happens all the time. E.g. for crane operations, other building works, etc etc.

Avatar
John_the_Monkey replied to kraut | 9 years ago
0 likes
kraut wrote:

Technically, it's four days of moderate inconvenience, spread over four years.

That's the UK for you though.

You should have heard the furore in Crewe over one road being closed for a morning for the Olympic torch relay (something unlikely to happen again within most of the complainers' lifetimes).

It occurs to me that the hell of drivers will be a curiously cushy place, in the "naughty" side of the afterlife. Doomed to eternity in a place where a road is closed every so often, parking restrictions & speed limits actually enforced &c

Avatar
cavasta replied to Meaulnes | 9 years ago
0 likes
Meaulnes wrote:

Technically it's four days of hell, spread out over four years…

More like around 20-30 hours of hell, spread over four years, when you consider the roads were closed for between three and seven hours.

Avatar
mattsccm | 9 years ago
0 likes

I cannot believe that any road, however small can or should be shut for a commercial venture. Let alone for that period of time. It is irrelevant whether the residents like it, it's plain wrong. An hour or two maybe. For goodness sake, apart from the city centres the roads for the Tour of Britain were not shut that long and that was the countries premier cycle event.
Even taking the promoters side, once is plenty. Change the route on a yearly basis unless a community asks for the event and most definitely do that for road closures. wales has enough miles to do that but oh no the promoters want to "sell" the big one and care nothing about anything else.
I will believe otherwise when they put common sense before profits and selfishness,
As for these events raising money for charity, you did that and could have done the same without all the gubbins attached. you didn't need anyone to do that for you as you obviously had the go ahead to do the hard work anyway.
I shall happily withdraw the above paragraph when it is proved that the promoters made no profits.

Avatar
Leviathan replied to mattsccm | 9 years ago
0 likes
mattsccm wrote:

I cannot believe that any road, however small can or should be shut for a commercial venture...
I shall happily withdraw the above paragraph when it is proved that the promoters made no profits.

All roads are used for commercial venture. That was why they were built in the first place. The fact that one Sunday a year is dedicated to something a bit different from lorries and commuters is not wrong. You don't hear people complaining that they should change the route of the London marathon every year when it disrupts many more people than the Etape.
As for 'selling' the big one, why not? I wouldn't raise anything for charity if I just when around the office telling people I was just going out for a ride on my own this weekend.
And of course the organisers made a profit; if they didn't there would be no more events, no one would be paid for their efforts.

I am not sure you know anything about the economy or why people are motivated to do anything at all.

Avatar
fenix replied to mattsccm | 9 years ago
0 likes

You don't understand matters.

The Tour of Britain operated a rolling road closure - basically the riders were in a bubble of closed road. This works fine for a small race of 100 riders of similar ability. It won't work for 1000s of riders of vastly different ability.

It was good to see the residents of villages out cheering - everyone seemed in good spirits. It's such a pity that some people want to drag the spirits down.

Of course the promoters aim to make a profit. There are very few people who can afford to work for nothing.

Avatar
Cooks | 9 years ago
0 likes

This is my local event, I live 2 miles from Penycae. This guy is a penis. The route went through Penycae, and closed one street. My friend's mother lives on this street, and asked a marshal if she could leave, which she was allowed to do after a bit of radio coordination. So this guy is making waves about nothing. I rode for the hospice mentioned (my fiancee passed away there in March of this year) and I raised over £1200. take away this event and how much funding will this, and other charities lose?

Latest Comments