British Cycling shortlisted for Governing Body of the Year award

British Cycling has been shortlisted for the Sports Industry Awards’ Governing Body of the Year award. The organisation has been recognised following a year in which British cyclists dominated the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but some may find its inclusion surprising given that it has also faced a number of controversies.

British Cycling previously won the award in 2013 and this year will be up against British Gymnastics, the English Football League, England Hockey, the Lawn Tennis Association, the Rugby Football Union and Table Tennis England.

They will be judged for work from December 1 2015 to December 1 2016. For British Cycling, this period includes not just the Olympics but also the biggest UCI Track World Championships ever, with over 50,000 spectators attending London’s Lee Valley VeloPark. The organisation also won the right to stage the UCI Road World Championships in 2019.

Set against this, British Cycling is currently awaiting the publication of two reports: the independent review into allegations of sexism and bullying, and UK Anti-Doping’s investigation into the delivery of a medical package to Sir Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky in 2011.

The former was launched in April 2016 following Jessica Varnish’s claim that technical director Shane Sutton told her to ‘go and have a baby’ and subsequent allegations that he referred to para-cyclists as ‘gimps’ and ‘wobblies’. Sutton resigned from his role shortly afterwards.

UK Sport has said that should ‘governance issues’ be revealed by the enquiry, it would be compelled to take action.

Jonny Clay, British Cycling’s director of cycling, commented:

“We’re delighted to have again been nominated for Governing Body of the Year. While we faced challenges in 2016, the hard work of everyone involved in the sport in this country contributed to another wonderful year for cycling.

“Our athletes’ success in Rio cemented our place as the world’s leading cycling nation, while the huge number of people who attended the fantastically successful UCI Track Cycling World Championships in London in March again demonstrated the appetite for the sport amongst the general public.

“It is this inspiration to participation philosophy that British Cycling is continuing to work hard to harness: ensuring that the exploits of our elite riders serve to inspire others to take up cycling, whether that be competitively, recreationally or as a form of transport.

“Securing the 2019 UCI Road World Championships was also a huge achievement, and that event along with the complementary £15m which will now be invested in cycling facilities as a result, will further safeguard our sport’s future.”