Blackpool promenade once served as a playground for Ross Cullen and his bike, and the BMX rider returned to his roots for the Lloyds Tour of Britain. Cullen, who won silver at the World Championships in July, attended stage two of the women's edition, where the Lloyds Tour of Britain Family Cycling Festival was also taking place.
A childhood on two wheels
Having grown up in nearby Preston, where cycling gave Cullen an ideal childhood, he was keen to share that message with the next generation of budding cyclists in the North West. The 25-year-old said: “It’s really cool having this on my doorstep. If I wasn’t here helping out, I would still have come and watched anyway.”
“I started BMX when I was six and I stumbled across the track in Preston, and then we ended up travelling around the local tracks. We went to one in Coppull near Chorley, we went to Lytham and we went to Blackpool. There were a few skateparks around here, and we’d get the train to Blackpool and kick around on the prom and go for a bike ride.”
From local tracks to Olympic reserve
Cullen has twice travelled to the Olympics as a reserve – at Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 – and is now targeting a place on the start line at LA 2028, but he credits his North West roots for sparking that initial passion. “It was the best childhood I could have had and that’s the message I want to share. Two wheels can give you the joy of the outdoors and being physically and mentally healthy,” he said.
The Family Cycling Festival is hoping to be the catalyst for future Cullens, as locals cycled along the traffic-free course of the Lloyds Tour of Britain at Blackpool’s seafront before watching the elites themselves.
Inspiring the next generation
“Visibility is really important,” added Cullen. “I started as one of those kids who attended the Family Cycling Festival. People see the accolades, the world medals, going to the Olympic Games and the brand partnerships but they don’t see where it started. It didn’t start on a professional BMX track, it started on the back of my mum and dad’s bikes as a toddler, and then to stabilisers and then normal bikes on family holidays.”
“People think it seems so far off at the beginning, but it’s gone within the click of your fingers.” British Cycling is inspiring riders and fans across the country through the Lloyds Tour of Britain, bringing the sport to life and celebrating the joy of cycling through Britain's biggest free-to-spectate cycling event.
