August 31: Blame police for problems with cycle races

MG Bisby, writing from Kildale, North Yorkshire, asks why amateur cycle races are conducted on roads in use by the general public, when the Tours of France and Yorkshire took place on temporarily closed roads (The Yorkshire Post, August 24).

Writing as a cyclist, I can understand the chairman of the Kildale Parish Meeting being perplexed.

Unless the situation has changed from when I rode and marshalled in local amateur road races, it was always the police (usually the North Yorkshire force) that insisted on the courses used for the race being kept open to all road users whilst the event was on.

We always felt that this was wrong as it was pointed out that each time the police were notified of an event to take place that the riders would do so under race conditions.

Riding say single file was not an option as riders, apart from the leaders on the course, would be in the peleton or main bunch bearing down on the front riders.

If the writer has any influence with the North Yorkshire Police, would he/she please ask that the route of the local races be ‘closed’ to all traffic whilst the race is taking place, to avoid the behaviour witnessed by your correspondent in the face of coming traffic?