British Cycling puts ‘culture of fear’ in past
Julie Harrington, the chief executive, believes the sport is on right road again after crisis
It is exactly 25 years since the Manchester Velodrome opened in Stuart Street and, even allowing for the Etihad Stadium just across the road, it is hard to imagine a more influential and transformative building in British sport.
The base for British Cycling and previously Team Sky. The inspirational scene of numerous World Championships wins and world records. The central training hub for athletes who would win 25 Olympic gold medals and yet also the location for what a 2017 report found was a “culture of fear” and medical record-keeping described that same year by UK Anti-doping as “chaotic and disorganised”.
Julie Harrington arrived from the Football Association as British Cycling’s new chief executive amid that crisis and you do not need long inside the National Cycling Centre to sense the cultural change that has been attempted.
There is now a huge mural on the wall, hand-painted by staff who included Harrington herself, as well as riders and coaches, which contains an overarching message: “Our Vision: Together we are transforming Britain into a great cycling nation.” Walk through another door and, on the next wall, it says: “Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike.”
It all seems removed from an environment whereby a report in 2012, which had already highlighted similar concerns over the treatment of elite riders, was not acted upon. Harrington’s central argument is that addressing flaws in the culture, underpinned by a powerful mission to transform Britain’s cycling network and thus participation, is actually ultimately also how you sustain thriving elite performance for the long term.
And the big accompanying hope is that cycling’s Road World Championships, now being held on British roads, in Yorkshire, for the first time since 1982, can serve as a catalyst for that drive.
“It’s a coup to host it for the first time in 37 years and also have the Government’s trust in our ability to bring people on to the streets and get them on to their bikes,” she says. “There is a huge latent demand from people who tell us they want to get on their bikes more but are not confident enough to go on our roads. We are a congested island and there are not many places where you get segregation between cars and bikes.” The Treasury has awarded British Cycling £15million via Sport England to spend on the community legacy from these World Championships, through improved cycle trails, BMX tracks and “learn-to-ride areas”. A scheme in Seville, where cycle use has increased five-fold, is an example of the progress that can be made.
“It’s absolutely achievable in an affordable and light-touch way – you need local authorities and national government having a much longer-term view of how you create infrastructure for cycling and walking in our towns and cities,” Harrington says. And the benefits? “Physical and mental health. You are 50 per cent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke if you cycle regularly. You are less likely to suffer with mental illness. It’s cheaper. There will be less congestion. Better air quality.”
Harrington also believes elite cyclists are increasingly motivated by these issues. “Younger people have a different paradigm in how they see the world. Personal glory and winning is not all that’s important. They want to feel part of something bigger. You see it in other successful teams. There needs to be a ‘why’ at the heart of it. Otherwise I don’t think it’s sustainable.”
Yet with the Tokyo Olympics only 10 months away, there is also an appreciation of the looming bottom line. “For any organisation that has had a very successful period, the expectation is there to continue to win,” she says. “If we go from 14 medals to two, we will be open to massive criticism. I genuinely believe that it [changing the culture and exceptional performance] is not mutually exclusive. In fact you should be able to have more sustainability.”
Harrington stresses that some “incredibly charismatic leadership” provided the catalyst for past growth and that it was crucial to embed what worked.
A rider mental health strategy was implemented this year and Harrington reports tangible improvement in the feedback on staff culture since 2017.
In terms of medical practice, there is disappointment that the tribunal into allegations concerning Dr Richard Freeman, a former Team Sky and British Cycling doctor, and a delivery of testosterone to the National Cycling Centre in 2011 remains delayed. Dr Nigel Jones, the head of medical services, who was appointed in August 2017, now reports to an independent committee rather than a coach, and British Cycling’s doors are opened annually to the Care Quality Commission. The decision to pull Katie Archibald out of the World Track Championships is seen as an indication that decisions on athlete welfare override performance.
After 2½ years in the job, Harrington is also satisfied that Sir Chris Hoy was right when he told her that the problems were not institutional.
‘There is a huge demand from people who want to get on their bikes’