Why no marshals visible on side roads at UK championship?

 

Guardian Angels once again provide safe passage for a major British cycle road race. I refer to Sunday’s (23^rd) British Cycling national road race championship at Saltburn in North Yorkshire won by Ethan Hayter (INEOS) with a late lone attack from his two breakaway companions. I was watching the event on Discovery Channel.

I couldn’t help but notice that once again, no marshals were visible on many side roads; nothing to stop a vehicle from being driven out onto the course which I presume is run under the otherwise excellent police escort rolling road closure system.

I apologise if I am mistaken, but I cannot image how it is  Spanish tv coverage of the Tour of Spain picked up a marshal on every junction viewed, and British camera's on home races here missed doing so! We couldn't see them because in  many cases static marshals simply were not deployed.

Besides, I was told years ago when I noticed this, that that rolling road closure provides all the security needed. I beg to differ.

They sweep by, pausing at side roads if cars are present to instruct drivers to wait. Presumably they are trusting drivers to decide when it is safe to continue. But what if there is a chasing group bearing down a few minutes later?

I have seen such a group pass unguarded junctions well after their escort has flown through. All it takes is for a car to turn up after the cop has gone.  And the chasing group is unsighted on a bend seconds away bearing down on what they think is a secured road!

This has been the case with the annual Tour of Britain. I think it was last year’s event when it was run at the same time as the Tour of Spain and this enabled me to switch between TV channels to watch both at once.

And I couldn’t help but notice that on the Spanish race marshals were visible on every side turning shown on the TV; or if no marshal, there was a rope or cones across the junction.

This contrasted sharply with the British event.  Although side roads in towns were covered, there was no one on several side roads in the open country.

So, either angels are watching, or Black Magic is at work, and vehicles approaching said junctions find their motors cut out and they roll to a halt until the race has gone by.

Meanwhile…..

MEANWHILE, the General Election looms on July 4.  Thankfully, the European Footy Cup, tennis and from this weekend, Le Tour de France, will happily provide distraction.

And then there are always the Television challenge shows, such as The Chase, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Pointless, and Mastermind.  

The  General Election, widely expected to be a most glorious funeral for Rishi Sunak and the disgraced Conservative party now dead on its feet after 10 years of fucking up our lives, will result, so everyone seems so sure about,  in Keir Starmer’s Labour party forming a new government and the Liberals becoming the new opposition party.

Unless, horror upon horrors, that grinning oaf Nigel Farage and his Reform party spring a nasty surprise?

Afterall, 17 million voters swallowed his lies promising a better life if they voted for Britain to leave the EU in 2016!

This column is supposed to be about cycling, and so without further ado, let us see what those tireless campaigners for Cyclists Rights, Cycling UK, are doing on the run up to July 4?

Their call strives to be heard above the noise of the traffic and remains unchanged – “cycling needs to become a major transport initiative”.

The response also remains unchanged for so far successive governments have turned a deaf ear.

And given the cost of living crisis, the NHS continuing to fall apart, the threat posed by climate change few want to face up to, the wars in Europe and Gaza, transport issues here barely register on the radar. It seems the big thing on our minds right now – but not mine - is European Cup Fever.

Spoiler alert: Look away now if you do not want to see the result of the European Cup final brought to us thanks to Dr Who taking a short trip into the future to reveal the following news: England 4 – Tory Party 0.

This means that Gareth Southgate becomes the new Prime Minister and his England team form the Cabinet. I imagine that Wembley will become the new seat of government.

CYCLING UK has announced 50 routes suitable for “all the family” and they ask us all to lobby our local candidates to “speak up for cycling.”

Over to Gareth.