East Suffolk Council
Women’s Tour & FelixFest
The Women’s Tour is coming to Suffolk once again and Saturday 9 October will see some of the world’s best cyclists racing to the crowned the 2021 Women’s Tour champion in the Final Stage from Haverhill to Felixstowe.
East Suffolk has hosted different stages of the Tour since it began in 2014, but this will be the first time the district has hosted the Final Stage. Felixstowe last hosted the race in 2014, when Stage Three began in the town.
More information is avaiilable on the Womens Tour website.
FelixFest
To celebrate the return of the Women’s Tour, East Suffolk Council is hosting FelixFest in partnership with Felixstowe Town Council – an ultimate weekend of family fun for local people and visitors alike.
The celebrations will be taking place on 8 – 10 October 2021 on the Beachside Events Space and along Sea Road, kicking off on the Friday night with an outdoor cinema. The movie is yet to be decided and all suggestions are welcome by email on leisure@eastsuffolk.gov.uk.
Activities will be taking place on Saturday 9 October at the finishing line, prior to the Women’s Tour final stage, including a 10km bike ride, children’s races and lots of demonstration activities. There will also be a Tour Village with stalls providing information, activities and representations from some of the sponsors of the Tour, as well as a Pump Track for people to have a go on.
There will also be entertainment and information talks taking place on the podium over the weekend.
To help the weekend run smoothly, the Council is also looking for volunteers to get involved. For more information, please email volunteer@eastsuffolk.gov.uk.
Felixstowe Triathlon
As a first for Felixstowe, an open water Triathlon will be taking place on Sunday 10 October 2021 with a standard (1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run), sprint (750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run) and supersprint (300m swim, 20km bike and 3km run) on offer. The sprint and supersprint is open to all teams and businsses.
For more information about the Felixstowe Triathlon and to sign up, please go to the Felixstowe Triathalon website.
Road closures and parking suspension
In order to accommodate the activities, spectators, finish area apparatus and convoy vehicles it will be necessary to close the following roads:
- Beach Road - Saturday 9 October 4am until 7pm, but no access to Sea Road will be available until Sunday 10 October at 7pm.
- Cavendish Road from Sea Road to Manning Road – Saturday 9 October 4am until 7pm, but with no access to Sea Road until Sunday 10 October at 7pm.
- Mannings Road from Undercliff Road West to Cavendish Street – Saturday 9 October 4am until Sunday 10 October 7pm.
- Orford Road – Saturday 9 October 4am until Sunday 10 October 7pm, but with no access to Sea Road until Sunday 10 October 7pm. Residential access will be available during the closure, except during the race arrival (2.15pm – 4pm).
- Sea Road – Saturday 9 October 4am until Sunday 10 October 7pm.
A one-way system will be in place along Undercliff Road West to the roundabout at Convalescent Hill on Saturday 9 October between 4am and 12pm and from 6pm on Saturday 9 October until 7pm on Sunday 10 October.
Undercliff Road West will be closed to traffic travelling from the direction of the Spa Pavilion to Langer Road, with the diversion route going up Convalescent Hill.
There will be no parking cones from Howlett Way to High Road in Trimley S Martin and on High Road in Trimley St Mary on Saturday 9 October between 12pm – 4pm.
Schools Pack
This gives some information about the race and the history of the tour and there are some activities you can use to get your class involved.
Kinetic Science
Working with Kinetic Science, they have produced worksheets for key stages 1 – 4 that you can you use alongside teach notes for each worksheet that will hopefully be a useful tool to show a link between Cycling and Science
Active Suffolk Schools Competition
Active Suffolk Schools Competition Active Suffolk have teamed up with your local School Games organisers and the Women’s Tour Cycle race to bring you an exciting challenge! Cycling is a fantastic way to get active as a way of travel or just for the fun and freedom it brings. As well as helping children along the way to their 60 active minutes a day, cycling improves fitness, boosts positive mental attitude and teachers report higher levels of alertness in children who have cycled to school. Can your class cycle from Haverhill to Felixstowe too? As a class, you need to record the number of minutes spent cycling or scooting in a week. That can be travelling actively to school, during school time or at home, it all counts. Log it by colouring in our specially designed poster for every 5 minutes you cycle/scoot. Can you make it all the way from Haverhill to Felixstowe? You may even make the journey more than once as a class. Make sure teachers that you get involved too.
You can choose to do the challenge over Bike to School Week (27thSept -1stOct) or the following week in the lead up to the tour (4 –8thOct). Once complete, send us a picture of your poster to shan.bendall@activesuffolk.org to be in the chance to WIN a days’ worth of cycle coaching for your school. To sign your school up, head to www.activesuffolk.cresign.co.ukand order your posters to be sent directly to your school. Posters are limited so order today to guarantee yours. Deadline for ordering is Thursday 23rd September.