How the southern hemisphere’s first UCI Bike City is living up to its name

The label of Bike City is awarded by cycling governing body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to hosts of major championships. However, such an accolade is not handed out without locations committing to achieving specific targets that extend long after the event has concluded.

Wollongong was the first city in the southern hemisphere to achieve such a status and, while Japanese city Tokyo has since joined the fold, it remains the only location in Australia to hold the title.

The city’s beautiful beaches and the backdrop of the Illawarra escarpment mountain range – not to mention a widespread appetite for fitness and healthy lifestyles among those who live there – was enough to convince the UCI to host a major event in Wollongong, which is located some 53 miles south of Sydney.

While the 2022 Championships were held on the roads, part of the city’s ambitions to integrate cycling further also includes the mountain range that dominates the skyline.

Samara Sheppard, UCI Bike City Coordinator for the Australian city’s tourism board, Destination Wollongong, has a long background in mountain bike racing and was initially chosen as an ambassador alongside fellow athlete Josh Carson for the 2022 championships.

Sheppard previously competed for New Zealand in the women’s cross-country competition in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which was held on the Gold Coast in Australia.

Her passion for cycling and mountain biking is evident, and it is no surprise that her ambassadorship developed into a long-term role with Destination Wollongong.

Collaborative approach

Sheppard explains that Destination Wollongong works closely in collaboration with the City Council, which is more focused on developing the infrastructure to make cycling an easier choice for active transport. The tourism board’s role includes marketing Wollongong as a cycling destination for visitors and residents alike.

“The next big thing is the mountain bike trails in the escarpment – we’ve got all the funding for it and all the stages are mapped out,” Sheppard tells Global Sustainable Sport.

“It’s harder with the roads because they are quite limited in space for Wollongong to just be a road cycling destination. We see a big opportunity in mountain biking. It fits because there’s the escarpment, there’s housing in the city and then there’s the ocean, so putting in some mountain bike trails in the escarpment right behind residential blocks and dropping into the city is pretty unreal.”

Additionally, a project of this scale requires community engagement – both with the city’s residents and its business owners. It also calls for collaboration, and Destination Wollongong has initiatives in place to not only promote cycling as a form of transport, but also a way to drive business.

The Bike Friendly Business Programme is an accreditation programme for businesses to encourage the installation of bike facilities such as secure parking, and level and inclusive accessibility. The Bike Friendly Employer Programme is a similar initiative, but this time for the workplace. The overall aim is simply to encourage people to use a bike more frequently, whether they are locals or visiting cyclists.

Wollongong also provides the finish line for the MS Sydney to ‘Gong bike ride – an 82km ride that raises funds for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research. It is the largest mass-participation ride in Australia, and is a key part of Wollongong’s cycling calendar.

Building up to 2030

Perhaps most importantly for the city’s UCI Bike City label is Wollongong City Council’s 2030 cycling strategy, which was published in 2020.

The city is largely reliant on cars to get around, and the vision is to reduce the dependence on vehicles while encouraging active transport. A study by the University of Oxford in 2021 found that if a traveller switched from driving a car to cycling for just one trip a day, this would reduce their carbon footprint by roughly 0.5 tonnes over a year.

Of course, the health benefits of such a shift would also be monumental.

Since 2013, more than 30km of the cycling and shared path network in Wollongong has been upgraded to improve the quality and safety of the routes while extending the distances.

By 2030, the council plans to provide an additional 50km of on-road cycling routes and 35km of off-road cycling routes by partnering with State and Federal partners. This will result in expanding the network from roughly 130km to almost 215km of cycling and shared path routes.

To boost cycling as a mode of active transport, plans are in place to connect residential areas to the City Centre, as well as nearby towns and villages.

Of course there are not only environmentally sustainable benefits to such a strategy, but also the health of the city’s residents. By 2030, the council hopes to increase weekly cycling participation from 12.9% to 20%; increase commuting by bike from 0.7 to 2%; and increase the number of transport cycling trips from 20.6% to 25%. There are also goals to increase weekly participation by women from 10.9% to 15% and reduce the number of cycling-related crashes from 156 to 70 per five-year period.

Inclusivity is also viewed as a key factor. Mountain biking at a competitive standard certainly requires plenty of skill, but the trails in the escarpment include different levels to cater for all abilities.

“We really try to cater for all. We’ve already got one designated mountain bike park, and we’ve got beginner trails all the way to expert jump lines,” says Sheppard.

“The escarpment is going to have an all-abilities trail as well, with adaptive bikes. They will be able to enjoy mountain biking as well, which I think is super cool.

“We’re trying to be accessible for everyone, and that’s why the bike lanes are going in the city and the coastal path. They are super accessible for everyone. We’re quite lucky because the city’s quite flat.”

The first stage of the new network of mountain bike trails across the Illawarra escapement opened in August, with the rest of the planned 130km route to be completed in 2025 and 2026.

Across the variety of cycling-friendly initiatives that have been completed, are in progress or in the pipeline, it is clear that while the UCI Road World Championships may have been and gone, Wollongong is determined to live up to its name as a UCI Bike City.

Images: Adam Jones/CC BY-SA 2.0, Rob Martin on Unsplash, Oleg Kukharuk on Unsplash