The Inaugural Women’s National Cycling Convention will take place in York on 30 April 2015 and will address the barriers discouraging women from cycling for leisure, sports and every day trips.

While York has high participation rates in women’s cycling thanks to its Bike Belles programme, only 27% of commutes by bike are made by women nationally compared to over 50% in Holland questions have been raised regarding the reasons for this.

In response to this the Women’s National Cycling Convention will draw together both women and men, working in cycle planning, the cycling industry and sports industry to identify and promote the solutions to encouraging more women to cycle.

Kersten England, Chief Executive of the council and a committed cyclist says, “York is proud to host the Tour de Yorkshire this year, and proud of our achievements with Bike Belles programme. There is still much work to be done to make cycling more appealing to women, and through hosting the Women’s Cycling Convention we want to share our successes and learn from others nationally and indeed internationally”.

“The issues go deeper than simply designing safer roads for cycling as the retail environment for bicycles remains a predominantly male environment,” says Chris Garrison from Trek Bikes UK who will speak at the event.

“Bicycle shops are missing out on a huge potential market, putting a collection of bikes and bike parts in the shop window is simply not enough, they need to look to stores like The Gap if they want to understand how to make a retail experience more appealing to women,” she continues.

This one day convention will be followed by a cycle tour of York led by Sustrans.

Confirmed Speakers include:
Janet Atherton, Director of Public Health, Sefton Council & President Association of Directors of Public Health
Rachel Aldred, Trustee, LCC
Jill Putnam – national operations manager British Cycling and person behind Breeze
Judith Rasmussen – Regional Strategic Lead at Sport England
Kersten England, Chief Executive, York City Council
Isla Rowntree, Founder, Isla Bikes
Chris Garrisson, UK Media Relations, Trek Bikes
Carlton Reid, author of “Roads were not built for cars”
Sarah Burr, Senior Strategy & Planning Manager for Cycling, Transport for London
Julie Hotchkiss, Acting Public Health Director, City of York