Further travel and transport guidance issued for Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds

More information and guidance around travel and transport has been released ahead of next week’s Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds.

All eyes will be on Leeds on June 11-12 as the city hosts a leg of the prestigious ITU World Triathlon Series for the first time, with the event being part of UK Sport’s National Lottery funded #EveryRoadtoRio campaign.

The event will see a series of GO TRI taster events taking place in and around Roundhay Park on Saturday 11 June before the main event the following day.

Sunday will see more than 5,000 amateurs take to the course from 7am in the morning, followed by the world’s finest triathletes in the afternoon with the women’s race from 1pm and the finale being the men’s race from 3:45pm.

Starting with a swim in Roundhay Park’s Waterloo Lake, the elite racers will take to their bikes and follow a 41.5-kilometre ride through Roundhay, Moortown, Meanwood, Weetwood, Headingley and Woodhouse before completing seven circuits of a city centre loop.

They will then transition on Millennium Square from bikes to running before covering 10-kilometres in four shorter laps culminating in a thrilling finish on the square.

In order to stage the event, road closures will be in place on the Sunday on impacted roads from Roundhay Park to the city centre from 3:30am before a controlled reopening from 5pm. In the city centre, roads will be closed from midnight on Saturday 11 June until midnight on Sunday 12 June.

Full route details of all roads on the route including the guidance specific to each area impacted and an interactive map can be seen at www.leeds.gov.uk/worldtrileeds.

The route needs to be clear of all vehicles so on-street parking will be suspended when the road closures begin. Any vehicles remaining on the route after this time will be towed away so owners are advised to make alternative arrangements.

Access for emergency vehicles will be maintained through the event and emergency services, health and social care providers, community meals at home and other agencies will ensure care and support individuals may need is provided.

Details of public transport arrangements are now available with changes to bus services able to be seen in full at www.wymetro.com/triathlon/. Services in north Leeds will be impacted in areas where the event passes, while in the city centre diversion routes via the A58 inner ring road or via Aire Street will be on operation.

There will be reminders about where to find details and travel updates on Twitter @MetroTravelNews and on the West Yorkshire Metro Facebook page.

A shuttle bus service between Roundhay Park and the city centre will be operating on the Sunday provided by First. Running from 5:30am to 8:30pm, it will run every six to 10 minutes from the Leeds Eastgate layby travelling via York Road, Oakwood Lane and Easterly Road before dropping off and picking up by Oakwood Clock. Fares will be priced at £2 per single journey or £4 return, with half-fares for young people under 19.

While the shuttle bus will be operating, both Roundhay Park and the city centre are expected to be very busy so organisers are advising spectators to pick a single viewing spot, get there in good time and remain in the same place in order to be guaranteed to see the action.

Those travelling to the event by car are advised to plan their journey carefully and allow plenty of extra time. The city centre will have significant changes to traffic flows as well as to both on and off-street parking. The park and ride service will be operating from Elland Road from 7am to 7pm with capacity available for more than 2,000 vehicles on the day, with drivers encouraged to make use of this facility.

Parking will be available at Roundhay Park off Wetherby Road and on Soldiers’ Field, while in the city centre a limited number of car parks will be operating and can be seen on the interactive map at www.leeds.gov.uk/worldtrileeds

In terms of trains, enhanced services will be running to cope with increased demand but operators advise travellers to allow extra time as it will be busy and to check with them for the latest updates.

The previous day, Saturday 11 June, will see a programme of taster activities including Youth and Junior races, the Triathlon England – National Aquathlon Championship and British Triathlon’s GO TRI events in Roundhay Park. Friends and family can also get active and Tri Something New in the sport expo taking place in Roundhay Park exclusively on Saturday.

To accommodate the Saturday activities in the park, Princes Avenue will be closed to through traffic from 5am to 3pm. Old Park Road will have on-site traffic management and restricted on-street parking. Park Avenue and West Avenue will see disruption to normal traffic so delays are likely and drivers are warned to allow extra time for any journeys.

Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Judith Blake said:

“The Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds promises to be a fantastic weekend and we want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy what should be another ‘I was there’ event in our city.

“For those directly impacted by the event we have done everything we can to make them aware and to limit the disruption to their normal routine. We would hope that people appreciate the phenomenal amount of planning needed to put on a global event of this size by multiple agencies, so would ask for everyone’s patience, understanding and support for an event which will again showcase Leeds to the watching world.”

Details of Accessible viewing and facilities for disabled people including Changing Places toilets in Roundhay Park and the city centre can be seen at www.leeds.gov.uk/leisure/Pages/spectator-information-for-world-triathlon-leeds.aspx

For the latest information on the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds visit http://leeds.triathlon.org. For anyone interested in volunteering on the Sunday, visit http://leeds.triathlon.org/volunteer/

For the latest information on the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds, as well as Saturday’s GO TRI event which offers a first taste of triathlon in a fun and friendly environment, visit http://leeds.triathlon.org. For anyone interested in volunteering on the Sunday, visit http://leeds.triathlon.org/volunteer/

The Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds is being organised by British Triathlon, IRONMAN, Leeds City Council and the ITU.

Notes to editors

About Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Columbia Threadneedle Investments is a leading global asset management group that provides a broad range of actively managed investment strategies and solutions for individual, institutional and corporate clients around the world. With more than 2000 people including over 450 investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia, we manage £323 billion ¹ of assets across developed and emerging market equities, fixed income, asset allocation solutions and alternatives.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments started its successful relationship with the ITU World Series in 2013 and has since become Global Financial Services Partner. www.columbiathreadneedle.com

All figures as at 31 March 2016. Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global brand name of the Columbia and Threadneedle group of companies.

¹Source: Ameriprise Financial Q1 2016 earnings release.

The Columbia Threadneedle Rankings

As a global asset manager Columbia Threadneedle Investments recognises the importance of being the best in the field, not just at home, but on a global basis. The Columbia Threadneedle Rankings are used to determine the best performing triathletes across the ITU World Triathlon Series.

The Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Leader Trophy is presented to the top male and female elite athlete at each ITU World Triathlon Series event. In 2016 the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Leader will continue to wear the bespoke race markings and carry the colours of the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings logo on their bike rack in transition.

Launched in 2015, the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Report identifies the trends and interesting statistics after each event throughout the season.

The official Columbia Threadneedle Rankings can be accessed at http://wts.triathlon.org/rankings. Engage with the conversation on social media using the hashtag #CTrankings, or follow @CTinvest_Tri.

British Triathlon is the governing body for the sport in Great Britain. It is responsible for raising the profile and delivering elite performance for Triathlon. Triathlon is a fast growing, dynamic and modern Olympic & Paralympic sport with talented world class athletes, coaches and support staff, focused around delivering world-class events and medal winning performances. www.britishtriathlon.org

Leeds City Council is the second-largest local authority in England with a population of around 776,000. Leeds has a very proud sporting heritage and we are committed to encouraging sport as a way of promoting the city and healthy lifestyles, as well as bringing world-class events, building towards our ambition to become European Capital of Culture 2023. www.leeds.gov.uk

UK Sport is the nation’s high performance sports agency responsible for the strategic investment of National Lottery and Exchequer funding into Olympic and Paralympic sports and bringing major sporting events to the UK. www.uksport.gov.uk/events

The ITU is the world governing body for the Olympic sport of triathlon and all related MultiSport disciplines. ITU is proudly committed to supporting the development of the sport worldwide through strong relationships with continental and national federations, working with its partners to offer a balanced sport development programme from grassroots to a high performance level. www.triathlon.org

A Wanda Sports Holdings company, IRONMAN operates a global portfolio of events that includes the IRONMAN^®Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN^® 70.3^® Triathlon Series, 5150™ Triathlon Series, Iron Girl^®, IRONKIDS^®, six of nine International Triathlon Union World Triathlon Series races, road cycling events including the UCI Velothon Majors Series, mountain bike races, premier marathons and other multisport races. The iconic IRONMAN^® Series of events is the largest participation sports platform in the world, with more than 260 events across 42 countries and over 680,000 participants annually. For more information, visit www.ironman.com.

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact:

Roger Boyde,

Leeds City Council press office,

Email: roger.boyde@leeds.gov.uk