Council withdraws financial support for Great Notts Bike Ride

Nottinghamshire County Council has pulled the plug on its financial support for the Great Notts Bike Ride, reports the Nottingham Post.

The council says it is no longer prepared to bear any financial risk associated with the event.

Now entering its 30th year, the event has grown from just a handful of participants in 1982 to around 4,000 riders in 2010. As Nottinghamshire’s biggest annual cycling event it has raised over £100,000 for charities in the last three years with the beneficiaries including the Rainbow Hospice and Cerebral Palsy Sport.

The event costs £90,000 per year to stage and now Perfect Motion, the sports management consultancy that runs it for the council, has stepped in to underwrite the 2011 edition but says it will only do this on a long term basis if a profit is guaranteed.

Chris Simon of Perfect Motion, told the Post: "Unless we stepped in and offered to take it on board it would have stopped this year. We are a commercial enterprise and we need to see a return on it over the next two to three years and then we'll have to review it."

Cycling campaign group Pedals organised the first Great Notts Bike Ride back in 1982 before Notts County Council took over three years later.

The group’s Hugh McClintock told the newspaper: "Given that it is very popular, very much appreciated and vital for the local cycling scene it would be a great blow if it was dropped completely."