BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Norwegian startup Motitech has announced its partnership with British Cycling and Sport England, which will support Motitech in delivering opportunities for older people to remain active through cycling.
This includes the Road Worlds for Seniors 2019 cycling event, which is Motitech’s global activity programme for cycling within care homes and care centres.
It will run throughout September alongside the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire and will set the focus on physical activity for older people using its concept, Motiview, in which older people cycle through a choice of 1,700 locations on stationary bikes via a video projection that plays whilst the person pedals.
The five-year partnership will also see British Cycling and Sport England support the project through the Places to Ride capital grants programme, designed to deliver a lasting legacy from the 2019 Road World Championships by funding the development of multi-use facilities as well as facility improvement and equipment.
The programme will engage with a broad spectrum of cyclists – encouraging people who have never cycled before to get on their bikes.
Places to Ride has been made possible through a new £15 million commitment from the UK Government and will be delivered over the next three years through a unique partnership between British Cycling, Sport England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
For Motitech, it means that the company will be able to provide equipment to an increased number of care homes, encouraging as many people as possible to get involved in physical activity in general. British Cycling will also be supporting the marketing and communications for the Road Worlds for Seniors.
“We are incredibly excited to be able to announce the partnership with British Cycling and Sport England ahead of Road Worlds for Seniors this year,” said Jan Inge Ebbesvik, president of Road Worlds for Seniors at Motitech. “The support means that we can get even more people and care homes involved in Road Worlds for Seniors across the world, and create that feeling of friendly competition and community.
“We want to encourage older people to compete, have fun and get active at the same time. Through the combination of exercise, support from friends, families, and carers, as well as the support provided by British Cycling and Sport England, this year’s event is set to establish the unique application of technology to benefit older people as an initiative in parallel to existing cycling competitions, and a special fixture of the British sporting calendar.”
Julie Harrington, British Cycling CEO, added: “We are proud to be a key partner of Motitech’s cycling activity programme and the Road Worlds for Seniors. It is vital that everyone has opportunities to remain physically active throughout their life, and the Motiview concept brings people together, forming new communities that may have never existed. We want people to get physically active and feel motivated to take part and cannot wait to see where, around the world, Motiview takes them.”
