Governing body aims for Australia to become top cycling nation
Australian champion Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) with Cycling Australia CEO Nick Green and race director Scott Sunderland in Ballarat (Image credit: Cycling Australia)
Cycling Australia (CA) have announced a four-year strategic plan encompassing all aspects of cycling, including the ambition of becoming "the worlds leading cycling nation". 'Strategy 2020' is broken down into five different metrics; sport, community, commercial, advocacy and governance.
"As the national body responsible for the sport of cycling in Australia, our vision is to be the world's leading cycling nation while affirming our leadership of cycling in Australia," Cycling Australia CEO Nick Green said in a statement from the governing body.
"While the challenges should not be underestimated, nor should the opportunities. To ensure we capture these opportunities and have a greater connection with the cycling community, we have developed the strategic vision, 'Strategy 2020'.
"Our 2020 strategic vision is to improve our global competitiveness, diversify our revenue streams and build a solid base for future investment."
The five 'strategic platforms' of the 'Strategy 2020' vision outlines a 'world's best performance' through "a relentless focus on athletes", focus on 'growth participation and membership' "by connecting with the recreation rider", to 'unlock the potential of cycling' via "building its visibility and commercial value", 'strengthen cycling's voice' via "through advocacy, leadership and partnership", and build operational effectiveness' via "establishing best practice in governance, financial discipline and stakeholder collaboration".
Orica-GreenEdge owner Gerry Ryan was appointed CA President in November 2013 to ensure the governing body would become "more commercially viable" but in May the following year, CA came under pressure from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) who urged the governing body to "rapid progress" on corporate governance reforms and establish a "stable financial platform for growing the sport" and provided a $2 million loan.
Green, who replaced Ryan in September 2014, has focused on steading the ship and ensuring CA return to a financially stable position and capitalise on the growing popularity of the sport in Australia. The former Olympic rowing gold medallist explained that he aims to represent "every cyclist" in CA's 'Strategy 2020'.
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"It targets growth of our membership base with a particular focus on servicing our racing members while at the same time expanding our recreational membership base. We also focus sharply on women and our youth, a strategy that supports our performance, engagement and participation initiatives," said Green.
"Our aim is to represent every cyclist – young or old, weekend riders or household names, commuters or racers."
Released as a one-page document, the Strategy 2020' outlines four main goals. To 'Drive annual surplus [to] $500k', 'Become Australia's leading Cycling voice', Dive membership to 50,000 members', and for Australia 'to win 5-7 medals' at the Rio Olympic Games (2-3 golds)', and '9-11 medals' at the Rio Paralympic Games (5-7 gold medals).
Cycling Australia have also announced an extension with Subaru as its automotive partner and naming rights sponsor of the National Road Series (NRS). The car manufacturers logo will now appear on team apparel at the track and road world championships.
