A longstanding duathlon run in one in all London’s largest parks has been cancelled as a result of “unexpected components”, thought to incorporate security issues.
The London Duathlon, which has been marketed because the world’s largest run/bike occasion, sees about 4,000 folks run, cycle, then run round Richmond Park. It was as a result of occur on 8 September, however has been cancelled as a result of Richmond Park’s operator, The Royal Parks, embarking on a evaluate of its biking coverage following “a number of cycling-related incidents”.
It’s not the primary biking occasion cancelled in Richmond Park; in June, it was revealed that two time trials had been cancelled over fears of cyclists breaking pace limits and associated incidents.
London Dynamo organised two time trials in Richmond Park in late-June and early July, which have been working for 15 years. They had been well-organised and abided by Biking Time Trials’ laws; they had been as a result of happen on 23 June and seven July. It was understood to be a everlasting determination.
The cancellation got here within the wake of a deluge of protection on the case of Hilda Griffiths, who died after being hit by a bicycle owner in one other of The Royal Park’s fees, Regents Park, in 2022.
Her dying was recorded as an “unintentional bicycle owner collision dying” by a coroner’s courtroom earlier this month, with no prosecution introduced towards the bike rider. She had stepped into the highway in entrance of rider Brian Fitzgerald, who had averaged 25mph across the park perimeter as a part of a pace-line, reaching speeds of as much as 29mph.
The information additionally prompted many anti-cycling tales within the UK media. The cancellation of the Richmond Park occasions had been linked to Griffiths’ dying and the following protection.
The tragedy led to the Royal Parks contacting Strava to ask that segments inside the parks be faraway from the platform, to discourage quick driving.
It’s understood that the London Duathlon has been affected by the identical Royal Parks evaluate.
On its web site, the organisers wrote: “There have been plenty of unexpected components this yr which have led to this tough determination, significantly in relation to the operational complexity of manufacturing a multi-sport occasion.
“This contains an elevated deal with the safety and logistics of biking occasions in public areas which creates vital operational challenges. Our group has been working exhausting to discover all obtainable choices in latest weeks, however now we have concluded that we are able to’t make the occasion work this yr.
“We perceive that this shall be unwelcome information, and we apologise for the frustration prompted. At the moment we’re not in a position to verify whether or not a 2025 London Duathlon will happen, and we shall be working to ascertain this within the coming months.”
In its personal assertion, The Royal Parks mentioned: “A spread of things, together with vital operational challenges, have meant that the London Duathlon is not going to be going forward in Richmond Park this yr. We are going to work carefully with potential occasion organisers to find out the way forward for the occasion.”
Pace limits don’t apply to cyclists, however riders inside the park are anticipated to abide by them.
