It should be exciting, and looking forward to the week, the centre of town is like a massive shanty town aligned to a rock festival. We live maybe half a mile from the centre and roads closed down for two weeks a few hundred yards away. Dog upset as her usual walks are disrupted
Hope folks got to see some of the cycling from harrogate today. Massive crowds, great course, rain helped spice things up and GB got a medal in the first race .
The town is really taken over and humming although many shopkeepers are upset and for good reason as trade is hit due to no access to town centre.
Day 3 of the cycling today brings mens u23 and womens elite time trials. Racing from ripon to harrogate before a few laps of the very tricky town circuit. Sadly its wet again, although not raining just now, but it makes bike skills v important. Lizzie deignan knows the roads well and although the dutch are favourites, a medal for her would be great.
I popped down to watch in town yesterday for the junior mens for an hour, crowds still good for a monday afternoon, today and tomorrow with the elite time trials should be humming. Sun would be nice later though.
Indeed , it was torrential and dangerous and probably should have been postponed. Today the weather is dry although overcast and quite mild. It's the mens elite time trials today, and then road races start tomorrow and through weekend. Town deadly quiet in shops though, although big crowds in town, they arent shopping as well as watching and itll be interesting if the economic benefits suggested actually materialise. My daughter works at bettys, a well known tea room in the region, and she was sent home from her shift last night as it was too quiet.
Fabulous race in the Mens U23 today, I watched on the train coming home from London - amazing high speed race, crowds for a Friday were fabulous and bodes well for a massive weekend - 3m expected on the final Mens Race on Sunday, no idea what we will see in Harrogate!
Shopkeepers and restaurants though complaining it is dead. Rumours going around that York, Sheffield and Doncaster all turned down being the hub location, Harrogate picked it up (although I would say it is the best choice) . But the economic benefits are unclear. It seems spectators are coming to watch the cycling and not spending time in the shops, and with the town effectively closed off to normal traffic, it means no one is spending any money. Some of the bars near the finishing straight on Parliament Street are doing very well but off the main drag, it is sparse takings. Lots of people moaning as it wasnt sold to folks in this way.
But in terms of putting the town on the map, loads of foreign tourists here and it may be a benefit that comes from people revisiting in the future as they cant help but be wowed by the fantastic location, despite the rain!
Well a stunning final race today, 7 hours of battling the elements. My daughter and I found a position on the finishing straight around 200m from the line and had a fantastic day, with 9 laps of the circuit.
Every european nation was represented in the crowd, amazing fun and camaraderie, (why are we leaving Europe again?), and harrogate was a place I am very proud to call home.
