Games stars join pupils to launch cycling event
COMMONWEALTH Games double silver medallist Louise Haston and her Team Scotland teammate Kerry MacPhee were joined by 150 pupils to launch the programme for the 2015 Edinburgh Festival of Cycling.
The youngsters from Sciennes Primary School in the capital were celebrating the event’s third year.
It will run from June 11 to 21 and features a celebration of all things cycling including films, books, photographs, talks, workshops and organised rides.
This year’s festival will shine the spotlight on inspirational women in cycling.
Guest speakers include Shannon Galpin, a campaigner and activist who is using cycling to champion women’s rights in Afghanistan, and Juliana Buhring, the first woman to cycle around the world.
Author Tamara von Werthern will talk about her play, The White Bike, which was inspired by the death of 30-year-old Eilidh Cairns, from Northumberland, who was run over by a lorry as she cycled to work in London six years ago.
Other events include the inaugural Capital Trail, a self-- supported mountain bike adventure route covering 147 miles through the stunning landscapes and remote trails of southern Scotland. An estimated 4,000 cyclists are expected to descend on the capital today for the fourth annual Pedal on Parliament ride to lobby for safer conditions on the roads.