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No major resurfacing for Olympic road race courseBox Hill (amandabhslater via www.flickr.com)

No major resurfacing for Olympic road race course

Patchwork and pothole filling should suffice
by Mark Appleton
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 15:57
10

The prospect of Mark Cavendish, Emma Pooley or any other world class rider coming a cropper thanks to a pothole during the London 2012 road races doesn’t bear thinking about.

But think about it LOCOG and the UCI must and based on their assessment, Surrey County Council will not be required to resurface the roads on their section of the road race course. The council has confirmed that "patchwork and pothole filling" will be sufficient to ensure the roads meet the required standard reports the Surrey Mirror.

At a meeting in Box Hill village hall, the council's David Stempfer told around 200 local residents: "The whole route has been assessed by LOCOG, and the International Cycling Union and they confirmed that none of the roads on the route need resurfacing.

"In terms of the roads around here, they are C or D class and get inspected once a year, but there will be patchwork and pothole filling. We won't be looking at full-scale works, but having said that we have another winter to come."

The issue of congestion around the village on race days was also raised at the meeting but LOCOG's community relations manager, Neil Walker, suggested that this would be a relatively minor price to pay given the unique opportunity the community will have to be the setting for a global sporting spectacle.

He said: "For many people having the Olympic and Paralympic Games in their home county is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"It's important we listen to the things you are worried about, so when we are planning we can put in solutions to your problems."

The men’s race will take in nine laps of Box Hill and the women’s two laps when they take place on July 28 and 29 next year, respectively.
 

uci
surrey
LOCOG
Box Hill

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10 comments

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mad_scot_rider | 13 years ago
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but think of the ratings - Olympic Cycling with Keirin-style crashes!

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wild man | 13 years ago
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I'll stick a few quid on Julien Absalon to win the gold, then.

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PJ McNally | 13 years ago
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Take a look at Box Hill on Google streetview - i wouldn't want to descend that road surface at my top speed, never mind the pros'

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pjt201 | 13 years ago
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I'd be interested to know if the organiser has thought about how the helicopter shots will work - was an interesting comment from an air traffic controller on the latest Real Peloton podcast about how a lot of the route is under restricted air spaces for Heathrow flight paths...

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stevefisher | 13 years ago
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I assumed that they would resurface box hill, obviously not

the road surface on the hill is at best described as poor, there are some large potholes but mainly there is a very rough poor surface from previous poor quality resurfacing

more so, the surface has been resurfaced over the top of the hill area leading up to the Dauphin cycle shop, with drain covers not having been appropriately raised , so there is a whole run of drain covers below the road level some with a considerable drop. I can see people falling off if they hit these at speed

and the sleeping policemen across the road aren't the best.

still it does make those coming from third world countries feel more at home

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gazzaputt | 13 years ago
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Gotta love the locals complaining about congestion. Have a world class event on their doorstep and still like to have a moan about it.

Box Hill cafe will make a killing them days.

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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True, but believe it or not according to the DfT London's roads are amongst the best surfaced in the country - the ones in Surrey are probably a lot worse.

http://road.cc/content/news/31186-official-–-englands-roads-getting-worse-says-dft

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mad_scot_rider | 13 years ago
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Having said that, I'm sure many regular London commuters would be a bit ticked to know that you'll only get a decent road surface if you happen to cycle in areas designated for this 'athletic elite'.

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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Yeah, at least that would be a tangible Olympic legacy for a bit of Surrey.

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handlebarcam | 13 years ago
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Surely, out of the billions being spent on these three weeks of mostly tedious athletics, a few quid can be found for a bit of tarmac? Or is it all being spent on Sebastian Coe's hair?

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