Cycle race will go on despite road upgrade

A COMMUNITY group is stepping in after a popular cycle event was cancelled because of the High Street improvement scheme.

It was announced in October that the Brentwood Town Centre Cycle Races, which draw thousands of spectators each year and scores of world-class cyclists, had been scrapped for 2009.

This was because the £6million High Street improvement scheme would be underway in June when the race takes place.

Eager to keep the spirit of the race alive, The Rotary Club of Brentwood has intervened and announced it is organising a grass track racing event instead.

The event - organised in conjunction with the Romford-based Easterley Road Cycling Club - will take place at the Brentwood Centre on Doddinghurst Road on Sunday July 19.

Rotary member and Brentwood Lib Dem councillor Reg Straw said: "We didn't want the event to be lost to the town.

"It has become a growing fixture in the town and it's an event we didn't want to be just lost this year."

The new venue will mean a different event to the road-cycling one, as it will take place on a grass track, with adult competitors making around 30 laps of the circuit.

The cycling club is also hoping to organise a family-style event to increase participation.

When Brentwood Borough Council announced the cancellation of this year's races, they claimed they hoped the event - which has become an established part of the local sport scene and a main event in the National Circuit Race Championship - would return to the town in Spring 2010.

However, Mr Straw said if this was not the case, they would continue to try and stage a cycling event in Brentwood.

"The way the council is going, devolving social responsibility, it could become an annual event," he said.

"It may move back to the town centre, but otherwise, if it doesn't, it may stay at the Brentwood Centre."

Chair of Brentwood council's Leisure, Sport and Culture Panel, Cllr Phil Baker said the event would be very different from that usually run by the council but added: "Anything to do with cycling, I would support big time."

Anyone looking for more information should call Mr Straw on 01277 215616, or to register, email andrew.ballantyne@sky.com