The Women's Tour

 

The Women's Tour was coming to Rushden; how exciting is that so I decided I must let you know all about it.

It is one of the biggest events to hit our small town since Rushden Lakes was opened last year and we were going to get the start of Stage 2 so I started planning what to see and photograph and then disaster struck.

Firstly I fell off my bike and have damaged my left leg, but that was not going to stop me but the major catastrophe came when I went to take a photo - my camera was not working!! It has been hard worked for about five years so I decided to buy a new one so I was very much a learner when I took the photos that follow. 

The day before, I went to Rushden Hall Park to see what was going on but it was all quite quiet -

Now owned by the Council and used

as offices

 

The start being built

The run from the start

Next day I was down in the park good and early and what a transformation and what a buzz of excitement. 

Motorbikes galore

Lead cars in place

… more motorbikes

Police road closure instructions

I did ask one motorbike policeman if there were any left in the county and he said only two were there and all the rest came from around the country, including Wales.

The 'Start' had been built from yesterday, the teams were being introduced...

WNT-Rotor a British team

Not sure who they were!!

BTC City Ljubljana

I wandered round all the different areas admiring the size of the accompanying vehicles

Noted our local councillors/mayors wearing their chains of office (you have to take my word for it) having a free coffee and a bun.

whilst the cyclists were warming up

 A member of Team Storey preparing

 and then I decided to make my way into town past all the motorbikes again.

I took up my position and at 10.15am the procession started with the Peloton (100+ riders) following

The TV cameraman motorbike on right

and they headed out for a tour of the town before returning to where I was standing on the point of a traffic island

before setting out on the race and the finish in Daventry.

A great morning out and great for the town and well supported.