The fifth-annual Ayrshire Women’s Cycling Festival is gearing up – and there’s plenty in store for those who want to take part.
For the second year in a row, the event will be held online due to the pandemic.
However, organisers have promised another packed list of live speakers, pre-recorded talks and much more to inspire cyclists of all ages over the three days.
The annual event – being held from Wednesday, May 5 to Friday, May 7 – is designed to support and inspire women in Ayrshire, and worldwide, to cycle more- regardless of their current cycling ability, or experience.
The festival is a partnership project delivered by The Ayr Active Travel Hub, The Kilmarnock Active Travel Hub and The Trinity Hub in Irvine.
Fay Podger, who is one of the active travel hub officers, said: “In previous years, the festival has been a face-to-face event with women’s bike rides forming part of the programme.
“Once the Covid pandemic hit, we had to re-think how we could deliver this and decided to take the festival online.
“Our programme has a mixture of live speakers, pre-recorded talks from women with very different experiences and backgrounds to cycling, bike maintenance videos and inspiring films.”
It is a free event over three days but sign-up is required for the live talks and panel Q&A sessions.
One of the guest speakers is Maybole’s Kayleigh Haggo, who is a multiple world champion in race running.
GB star Kayleigh will be taking part in a live Q&A on Wednesday, May 5 at 8pm, when she will be talking about her career journey and her love of cycling.
Other guests will include the likes of Louise Haggarty, Helen Ternent, Fiona Brawley and Shgufta Anwar, who will take part in a panel discussion on all things cycling.
A spokesperson for the event organisers said: “We are really excited about our line up for 2021.
“We have some amazing inspirational speakers talking to us live as well as some pre-recorded talks that you can watch at any time.
“For our live talks we have chosen a range of women with completely different experiences of cycling; from newbies to world champions, to grassroots cycling organisations and real life local women – there is something to inspire any woman whatever your cycling ability.
“We also have a short film festival, panel discussions and a live film showing of the Adventure Syndicate’s Resolution Race, so we have plenty to keep you entertained.”
All of the talks will be via Zoom webinar and you will need to register for the talk before the event.
The live speaker events will include a question and answer session after the talk.
Check out the programme for the full line-up and to register for the talks go to https://ayrshirewomenscyclefestival.org
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