Millions of viewers from across the globe tuned in to see the world’s best cyclists take to Barnsley’s streets for South Yorkshire’s leg of the Tour of Britain on Thursday.
The cycling spectacular capped off an incredible series of events locally that have inspired us to get moving this summer – whilst displaying the very best of our community and our borough.
The internationally acclaimed Tour of Britain’s stop in Barnsley was a resounding success with the race meandering through our towns and villages and beautiful countryside, finishing in our newly-redeveloped, and award-winning, town centre.
Thousands lined the streets to cheer riders on and, in typical fashion, Barnsley folk put on a great show at the finish line! With Team GB’s incredible Olympic Games success that saw Yorkshire’s own Tom Pidcock take gold in the men’s cross-country mountain biking, and a new cycling shop in town, JE James on Eldon Street, there’s never been a better time to take up cycling.
In recent months, we’ve also had two incredible 10k runs that have shown off the borough – the Penistone 10k and the Barnsley 10k.
Both of these races drew hundreds of entrants together and raised thousands for charity. As with the Tour of Britain, folk lined the streets to cheer on participants and showed them our community spirit.
The routes themselves, again, highlighted both our beautiful parks and countryside as well as our modern town centre and characterful villages.
Away from these sprawling, and incredibly gruelling, races are a number of local events that have also inspired our communities to come together and get active.
Take the What’s Your Move Festival for example, put on by Barnsley Council and their partners in Thurnscoe and Cudworth. These free, family-friendly events had a mix of sports and physical activity plus cultural music, dance, and arts and crafts. There was something for everyone and, from attending the event at the Dorothy Hyman Sports Centre myself, a very good time was had by all.
Of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention football when I talk about our borough being brought together by physical activity given our town’s long and storied history with the sport.
We have exceptional local organisations and individuals working tirelessly to unite our community – like Bruce Dyer who founded the Love Life Sports Ground in Grimethorpe.
His work has brought young people from across the borough together, encouraging them to stay active and developing their talent. In a similar vein, the Barnsley Football Club Community Trust brings together people from across our town and, using the power of football, improves the lives of local people through a range of activities and projects that they have run throughout the year.
With our town’s exciting cycling story, 10k success, and incredible community initiatives we’ve had an incredible run of events so far this year – and there’s still much more to come.
Whether it’s dipping back into something you’ve not done in a while, or trying something completely new, there’s not a better time to get involved!
