Britain’s greatest bike heroes are showcased on a dozen graphic panels erected around Ulverston as part of the build up to the arrival of the Tour of Britain in town on Friday September 7th 2018.
Competitors will race to a sprint finish outside Ulverston Leisure Centre at around 11.30am after starting out from Barrow and travelling down the coast road. They will then ride through the town’s cobbled streets before heading out for the day’s big finish at Whinfell Forest.
A giant ‘Stan-on-a-bike’ design climbing the Hoad, decorated bike wheels and bowler hats, and a giant TV to keep track of the riders all add up to a ‘wheely good’ day as Ulverston marks the Tour of Britain 2018 visit.
The specially commissioned graphic panels are sited at a dozen locations around the town centre, and celebrate some of the biggest names in British cycling including Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome, Lizzie Deignan and Beryl Burton. Leaflets giving details of the trail are available in town centre stores along with collectable cards featuring each graphic and details of the rider.
Don Mammatt who runs the Northern Line gift shop in Market Street is part of the Tour of Britain task force promoting the event in Ulverston. He explains: “Britain has a fantastic heritage of great cyclists who have won honours in the UK and around the world. The graphics pay tribute to those great men and women and provide a fascinating insight into the history of the sport.”
Market Street and New Market Street will closed to traffic on Friday September 7th to enable people to cheer the racers as they ride through the centre of town, from Tank Square up Market Street to the Cross, before turning right and heading out of town for the next stage of the race towards the finish at Whinlatter. They will also be able to watch the whole of the race on a giant TV screen organised by the BID.
A rolling roadblock supervised by the police and Tour of Britain organisers will accompany the riders throughout the 168km Cumbrian stage.
Dozens of bike wheels have been decorated and placed around the town to publicise the race and there are plans for local artists to create a huge graphic design on the side of Hoad Hill in flora-and-fauna-friendly paint to coincide with the race. The design will feature Stan Laurel apparently cycling up the hillside on a giant bike. Local schoolchildren are also decorating hundreds of green bowler hats which they will wear at they cheer on the racers coming into Ulverston.
For more information on Ulverston and the race visit the Tour of Britain Ulverston Facebook page, or www.tourofbritain.co.uk
Chris Nelson, Trafalgar PR
