Raleigh, one of the UK’s oldest and best-known bike brands, has announced its support of Cycling UK’s Women’s Festival of Cycling. The collaboration will celebrate women in cycling and see Raleigh as headline sponsor.
This year, Cycling UK’s Women’s Festival of Cycling runs from July 17th to August 1st, 2021. The festival was established to inspire more women to go for a ride. Activities include digital events, advice and organised women’s-only and women-friendly rides taking place across the UK.
To celebrate the sponsorship of the Women’s Festival of Cycling and the 100 Women in Cycling list, which celebrates inspirational women who are encouraging others to experience the joy of cycling, Raleigh has created one of its iconic advertisements that promoted cycling to women nearly 100 years ago.
The adverts, based on an original 1922 Raleigh design, appear in the Tottenham Court Road / Oxford Circus corridor on Clear Channel sites. The bike brand will also provide a range of tips based tools for participants, as well as a selection of high value competition prizes across the festival.
Michelle Jakeway, Head of Marketing at Raleigh, said “We strongly believe in the importance of equality across all aspects, and understand that it is our responsibility to be a role model as a company but also show the support women in cycling deserve.
“There is nothing that makes us happier than seeing more women cycling and so we’re delighted to be supporting this important initiative with Cycling UK.”
Sarah Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cycling UK, said “There are still many barriers preventing women from participating in cycling. In the UK, men still make nearly four times as many journeys by bike than women.
“Until we have gender parity in cycling, we will not become a cycling nation with greener cities, healthier populations and happier neighbourhoods. Getting more women riding is another piece of the puzzle in making a better world by bike.”
Also supporting the Women’s Festival of Cycling is Lily Beaven from Women in Tandem, a women-focused cycling co-operative, in Nottingham. Women in Tandem offer cycle training and bike maintenance classes for women.
Lily Beaven at Women in Tandem said “Women in Tandem are a Nottingham-based bike collective that aims to empower women to cycle. Currently we achieve this by offering women’s bike maintenance courses and led group bike rides, and we invite everyone in our local community to access our free ‘Dr Bike’ fixing sessions across the city and our mobile affordable bike repair service.
“We have seen huge increase in demand for repair classes specifically for women. Cycling is one of the most discriminatory industries and we want to be part of the movement to redress this imbalance. We want to support women to overcome additional barriers to cycling so they have the confidence and skills to enjoy cycling.”
www.raleigh.co.uk
www.cyclinguk.org
