Karen Lifford

I am a lifelong member of British Cycling who, over the course of 45 years, has participated regularly in club rides, raced at local and national level in Road, Track, and CX as well as a regular cycle commuter and recreational rider.
I am a qualified cycling coach, coach tutor and Bikeability instructor but a volunteer at heart with experience of organising and supporting events from grassroots CX and MTB to the Olympics and Paralympics.

I worked for 13 years as British Cycling Regional Events Officer/Cycle Sport Developer and a total of 35 years working in the not for profit sector in volunteer management and development based roles. Training, coaching and mentoring volunteers to take on roles that utilised their skills and knowledge whilst supporting their passion and ambitions.

The whole cycling ecosystem is in a state of uncertainty - my vision is to bring a variety of different voices to the table to facilitate meaningful conversations and mutual support to our little corner of the sport in the East Midlands.
I bring a broad knowledge of sport development, not for profit sector and volunteer management to the regional board that will help support the changes and challenges faced by the cycling community, the East Midlands regional board, British Cycling as an organisation and cycling as a sport and an industry.

The East Midlands region has had a long history of quietly doing what it does well, with its location and opportunities supporting the development of the sport, not only in the region but also across a much wider catchment area. The future of the regional structure is currently under review creating an opportunity to evolve and build the next version of the regions story whilst continuing to do what it does well. I look forward to exploring what that might look like over the coming months and years.

 

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