According to an article published by BBC Sport, cycling is now deemed as the ‘new golf’. Figures show that golf participation has fallen dramatically recently, cycling has grown substantially. Many people have put two and two together and put the growth of cycling down to people putting down their golf clubs and getting on a bike instead.
Sport England’s figures suggest that sales of cycling related gifts will rocket this Christmas. Results found that there were more than two million adults cycling at least once a week between April 2013 and April 2014 compared 710,400 taking to the golf course.
Participation levels of golf in England has fallen around 180,000 in the past eight years. However, cycling participation has grown by around 270,000 in just the past year. This figure doesn’t even include those who socially cycle to the pub or to work.
A study done in 2013 shows that 20% of golfers who gave up golfing in the past 6 months to two years chose to take up another sport instead. Sir Bradley Wiggins is said to be amazed at the recent popularity of cycling and that it’s gone from being a slightly eccentric past time to ‘cool’ in a short period of time.
The drop in golf’s popularity is slightly surprising as the professional’s have been doing well – earning four different major winners in the past five years. Many have said that the rise in cycling popularity is due to the great success that British cyclists such as Wiggins etc have achieved over the past decade.
Here at Direct2U we’d love to see more and more people having the opportunity to cycle to work and make a positive change in their lives. We know this isn’t always easy but for employers, we aim to make choosing and installing a cycle shelter as economical and efficient as possible. If encouraging your workers and colleagues to cycle appeals to you, contact us and we can help.