Wheels in Motion

Aaron Flanagan outlines the success of the Brisbane Cycling Festival

In July, AusCycling celebrated success at the National Sports and Physical Activity Convention held in Melbourne, with its Brisbane Cycling Festival winning in two categories at the Sport, Recreation and Play Innovation Awards.

The Festival claimed the Major Event Promotion Award for providing community opportunities to grow participation by aligning a mass participation or a major spectator event. The Festival also secured the overall Sport, Recreation and Play Industry Award for Innovation having been judged as the organisation or event that has activated or has the potential to activate significant numbers of people across Australia due to their work.

For AusCycling and its major funding partners, Tourism & Events Queensland and Brisbane Economic Development Agency along with NX Sports who deliver the Tour de Brisbane within the festival, securing these awards was tremendous recognition for its steadfast commitment to deliver the festival through challenging pandemic impacted times.

The Brisbane Cycling Festival is a great example of a major festival developed and delivered as a genuine partnership

Crowd at AusCycling Track National Championships between government agencies, major event owners and the community organisations that deliver affiliated events during the festival window.

Back in May 2018, the concept of the festival was collaboratively imagined by AusCycling, Tourism & Events Queensland and Brisbane Economic Development Agency as a strategic opportunity to bring existing and potential new cycling events together under a collective festival umbrella and, as a result, the Brisbane Cycling Festival was established.

The first edition of the Brisbane Cycling Festival was successfully held in April 2019, with the 2020 edition cancelled part way through due to the arrival of the pandemic and despite the impacts of subsequent border closures and lockdowns the festival was delivered in 2021 and 2022 achieving substantial participation growth annually.

AusCycling’s vision for the Brisbane Cycling Festival is to deliver Australia’s largest multi-discipline cycling festival embracing every pathway of the sport from learn to ride to elite national and international competition with an inclusive focus.

Hosted annually in the March/April period, the major pillars of the four-week festival include the AusCycling Track National Championships hosted at the world class Anna Meares Velodrome and the Tour de Brisbane Gran Fondo which incorporates the AusCycling National Road Series and also enjoys status as a UCI World Gran Fondo Series Qualifier event. In 2022, the festival also hosted the Oceania Championships for all disciplines which was the first time all disciplines had been hosted in a single destination.

The Tour de Brisbane is a unique event being the only mass participation bike ride encompassing various distances up to 110km on fully closed road in and around a capital city. Participants enjoy features such as crossing the landmark Storey Bridge and passing through the city’s busway and tunnel network and taking on the gruelling Mt Cootha climb.

Supporting the major events is an affiliated program of events

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AusCycling BMX activities for children.

Brisbane Cycling Festival‘Colour Your Ride’.

delivered by an array of passionate community groups and private operators. These events include learn to ride program initiatives for people of all ages, competition events, lifestyle events and bike tourism activities such as the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail.

In 2021, the festival made a strategic decision to create a three day Festival Village hub supporting the Tour de Brisbane at the Brisbane Showgrounds. With the support of Lendlease’s King Street Precinct adjacent to the showgrounds, AusCycling has established an exciting three day program that incorporates a showcase for the sport of cycling including street criterium racing under lights, cyclocross, mountain bike and BMX demonstrations, come and try activities and the Active Lifestyle Expo showcasing health and wellbeing.

Sean Muir, AusCycling General Manager of Major Events and State Manager - Queensland, said that “the awards success was due recognition to the steadfast commitment and collaboration of enormous number of stakeholders in what has been a tremendously challenging time for the sport and events industry.

“Through this period, we have established a new home for the Brisbane Cycling Festival at the Brisbane Showgrounds, added many new products and events and achieved outstanding growth in all areas whilst primarily being an intrastate festival due to restrictions” .

In 2022, the Brisbane Cycling Festival key results included: •Delivered 141 affiliated festival events and activities offered across 24 days. •Attracted 43,000 participants and attendees to festival events. •Welcomed 5,580 Tour de Brisbane participants. •Achieved a $12.36 million economic impact. •Increased commercial income by 38% •Grew the Active Lifestyle Expo by 30% with 100% of exhibitors committed to returning in 2023. •Engaged 28 suburbs of Brisbane through the festival program.

Looking forward, festival stakeholders anticipate that the best is yet to come with Brisbane 2032 on the horizon.

Muir added that “Brisbane 2032 creates an exciting decade of opportunity for the sport of cycling. It presents an incredible window to inspire our youth to get involved in the sport whether that be on the road, off-road or on the track and to leverage our festival platform to encourage the community to get involved in bike riding.

“Brisbane is a wonderful cycling city and whether it be for health, leisure or to commute to work we want to use the festival as an enabler to encourage more people to participate in the sport and in doing so create new fans as we look forward to home Games in 2032”.

Planning is well underway for the 2023 Brisbane Cycling Festival and organisers are looking forward to sharing the festival experience with more visitors from interstate and overseas.

The Brisbane Cycling Festival kicks off with the AusCycling Track National Championships on 15th March and concluding on 16th April. The program will include Oceania Championships and the Brisbane Cycling Festival Village at the Brisbane Showgrounds incorporating the Active Lifestyle Expo will take place from 31st March to 2nd April.

The Tour de Brisbane will take to the city on Sunday 2nd April next year. Aaron Flanagan is Associate Partner at Eighty20 Partners and the Director of the Brisbane Cycling Festival.

Brisbane Cycling Festival Active Lifestyle Expo. Brisbane Cycling Festival Village.