Extending time-trial towpaths

WORK is to start in providing yet two more prospective time-trials towpaths for racing cyclists attempting to increase their best speeds.

Canal & River Trust's Friends Fund together with cash from Wiltshire County Council will be used to extend an upgraded length of towpath in Devizes, that will give another towpath a good surface for the time-trials by cyclists on the Kennet & Avon Canal, Keith Gudgin tells us.

Racing lengths

There are already two such racing lengths of towpath on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Bath and Semington that are widely used as time-trials with average speeds of 19mph being set, with over 1,000 attempts on the very popular upgraded towpath from Bathampton to Bath.

Work on this new upgrade will start on the 16th March and take until 6th June, after which there will be 'a bound surface on the towpath so that it is suitable for all users and in all weathers'. The extension is from Bridge 138 to Bridge 140.

And another

Still another towpath upgrades, this time on the Western end of the Shropshire Union Canal, where just over a mile of towpath will be turned into an all-weather surface, money provided this time by a £250,000 grant from Cheshire West and Chester Council's Regional Growth Fund.

This could be particularly handy for time-trials, as there is already a section out of Chester that is used by cyclists for time-trials, with the section from Chester to Ellesmere Port giving a particularly long length of towpath that would give the cyclists a good challenge.

Over 1,000 attempts

To date, again over 1,000 attempts have been made on the existing section by over 300 cyclists attempting to increase their speeds.

No starting date is given, though it will be a six weeks project and will be undertaken this year.

Boaters and particularly walkers should take great care, especially if with children or animals.