Olympic climate awareness ride reaches Sussex

Chris Boardman (right) is cycling from Manchester to Paris to raise awareness of climate change's impact on sport

The Chair of Sport England, who is cycling to Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games, has reached Sussex, after some “incredibly wet” days on the road.

Chris Boardman’s 550-mile (885km) ride from Manchester to Paris aims to highlight how climate change is impacting sport and the need for more action.

He will spend eight days on the road, collecting pledges from sports organisations to reduce their energy and water use, promote sustainable travel, cut single-use plastics and support conservation.

Mr Boardman, who won the first-ever men's world time trial championship in 1994, an Olympic gold and broke the world hour record three times, said climate change was having an “insidious” impact on sport.

“Whether it is a spike in temperature or flooding, those events are just becoming more and more frequent,” he told BBC Sussex.

“Sport is wrapped up in that. It’s really affecting people’s ability to get active.”

Flooding and extreme heat, which scientists say have grown more frequent and intense due to climate change, can waterlog pitches, disrupt sporting events and make exercise unbearable.

Three in five adults say extreme weather has negatively impacted their ability to be physically active, according to research by Sport England.

Chris Boardman won Olympic gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992

A team from BBC Sport is joining him on the ride.

Day six of his journey saw Mr Boardman cycle 67 miles from Euston to Newhaven, travelling through the North Downs and Ashdown Forest. He visited the Dripping Pan, where Lewes FC play in East Sussex, en route.

The 55-year-old will head towards the heart of Paris, the Olympic city, for the remainder of his journey.

“The beauty of the bicycle is it's different things to different people. It's your first way to explore as a kid and then, in my case, it's how you met girls and then it became what I do with my friends and my sport and my job,” he told BBC Sussex.

“Now it is a way for me to go and explore.”

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