Former Olympic champion cycling to Paris for climate change awareness

A gold medal winning Olympic cyclist is taking an eight-day bike ride from Manchester to Paris to raise awareness over the impacts of climate change.

Chris Boardman, who won gold for Great Britain in the men’s individual pursuit cycling at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and received a CBE at the King’s birthday honours, began the challenge called Pedal for Paris on July 16 from Manchester.

He told the PA news agency on the first day of the cycle: “We’ve had a good sample of climate change already – really torrential rain.

“It’s pretty warm though and now we’re heading towards Ashbourne, which is our first overnight stop.”

The challenge is expected to end on July 23 in Paris, and will see Mr Boardman cover 550 miles by riding through locations including Loughborough, Milton Keynes and Dieppe.

Mr Boardman is chair of Sport England – a public body aiming to develop grassroots sport and encourage more people to get active in England – and said the cycle was devised last year.

“Sport England launched our environmental strategy earlier this year and it’s pretty bold,” he said.

“It essentially means than anyone who wants to access public money must have an environmental strategy and action plan by 2027.

“So part of that – making it visible – we thought Paris aims to be the most sustainable Olympics ever.

“It’s nearly 10 years since the signing of the Paris (Agreement) on climate change.

“What is the most sustainable mode of travel on the planet?

“Let’s ride there and en route, not just raise awareness of climate change and the impact it’s having on sport, but also visit some projects en route doing some good things.”

As the Olympics beckons, he said he would “hazard a bet” Team GB’s cycling team will have a “successful” games.

“The cycling team are competitive across the board – they’ve got lots of young talent,” he said.

“I was really sad to see Katie Archibald who had an accident, broke her ankle, not in the frame, that happened just a few weeks ago.

“We’ve got the likes of Tom Pidcock who will be riding the mountain bike race – he’s just come out of the Tour de France.

“It should be interesting, I would hazard a guess – very successful.”

Joining Mr Boardman for parts of the ride will be personalities and athletes including former England rugby players James Haskall and Mike Tindall, who will be riding on a tandem bicycle, naturalist and explorer Steve Backshall and former champion athlete Lord Coe.

Sport England has started a Going for Green pledge which is backed by more than 80 organisations including The Football Association, England Athletics and Paddle UK.

The initiative plans to encourage more people to take part in activities in nature and wildlife, increase recycling and reuse of sports equipment, promote sustainable transport options and using fewer single-use plastics.