Winchester's Entente Cordiale!
Chris Hutchings of Park Road, Winchester, is one of 150 British cyclists taking part in the 200-mile Paris-London cycle race this weekend as part of the Entente Cordiale Centenary celebrations.They will join 150 French cyclists in the race, which starts near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday 23 October and finishes by the Tower of London on Sunday, where they will be met by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.
In Paris Chris will present the races' French organisers with a greeting from the Mayor of Winchester, Cllr Cecily Sutton, acknowledging the close links Winchester has with Laon in Northern France. "Although the race will not go through Laon, it's nice that we can cement the alliance through the celebration of the Entente Cordiale," she said.
Chris is looking forward to the challenge, commenting that it will be "a bit daunting because some of the riders are semi-professional, and my first objective is just to complete the course."
Chris is no stranger to cycling in France as earlier this year, together with Winchester City Council Chief Executive Simon Eden, he took to the mountains for the L'etape du Tour, a cycle ride that followed the same course as Stage 10 of the Tour de France, Limoges to St Flour