British Cycling breaks records

Membership of British Cycling has broken the 20,000 mark for the first time since 1961, the organisation announced. British Cycling's clubs have recruited 2000 members during 2006 through a club-focused membership recruitment scheme launched in 2005. More than half of the new members have upgraded to Silver or Gold membership, enabling them to access the best legal and insurance benefits available for cyclists in the UK.

Alongside the growth in membership is a growth in the number of licence holders, which has also hit an all time high of 11,000. In addition, over 60 percent of the new members recruited through this scheme in 2005 have renewed their membership in 2006.

"Since the beginning of the implementation of the organisation’s UK Wide One Stop Plan in April 2005, we have seen a 33 percent increase in membership," British Cycling’s Chief Executive Peter King commented. "British Cycling has established itself as not only the fastest growing Cycling organisation but also the fastest growing National Governing Body across all sports in the UK.

"In addition, over the same period, there has been a 9 percent increase in the number of licence holders. A lack of appropriate racing opportunities has often been cited by lapsed members as the main reason for not renewing their membership, so this increase suggests we have begun to turn an important corner in addressing this issue."