Agree reforms or risk turning clock back, says Howden

British Cycling president Bob Howden has made a late attempt to persuade the national governing body’s membership to adopt reforms or risk turning the clock back “30 or more years”.

Sporting governing bodies, including British Cycling, must comply with sports minister Tracey Crouch’s governance code – to promote independence and diversity – by November or risk losing funding.

British Cycling has been allocated £17m from Sport England, largely for grassroots and participation, and £26m from UK Sport for its Olympic and Paralympic teams, but both sums depend on the reforms being passed at Saturday’s extraordinary general meeting of its national council.

Three of 10 regions have rejected the governance proposals at regional mandate meetings, Howden said, casting doubt on the whether the reforms will be passed. A 75 per cent majority is required for the reforms to go through.

“This is no bluff,” Howden said. “Our 136,000 membership should be in no doubt that what is at risk is not only the funding for the Great Britain cycling team but our ability to support the grassroots of every part of our sport.

“We can choose to be a sport which has a leading role or we can choose to turn the clock back 30 or more years.”