Here’s an update on the ‘Cycling and walking - sports or not’ post from last week, courtesy of Bike For All. They quote the sports body British Cycling as welcoming the government’s interest in community sport, but a new tighter definition of what constitutes sport excludes recreational cycling - along with recreational walking and going to the gym - and therefore excludes it from qualifying for Sport England funding.
The article goes on to say:
Cycling is the only activity which has been segmented into distinct categories:
1. Cycling (Sport) - activities related to competition and,
2. Cycling (Recreation) - casual or organised participation aimed at expressing or improving physical fitness and well being and forming social relationships.
For example, all forms of swimming would seem to be classified as Sport and recreational swimming would seem not to exist. Similarly, activities such as horse riding and sailing, which both involve significant amounts of recreational and leisure activity, are not segmented at all.
