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Sport England to invest £88m in grassroots funding with cycling topping list

Tour de France 2014, Yorkshire, generic (Picture: SWpix.com)
Image: Cycling will receive £18m in funding from Sport England

Cycling is the biggest recipient from the latest Sport England funding announcement which will come into force in April.

The sport will receive an additional £17m from the investment into grassroots sport, with 25 other national governing bodies also being given funding.

Sport England is making the funds available as it continues to work on increasing the number of people taking part in sport around the nation.

Hockey (£9m), gymnastics (£8.3m), cricket (£7.6m) and badminton (£7.2m) will also receive a significant portion of the overall Sport England fund, which is boosted by money from the National Lottery.

Sports including football, swimming, tennis and rugby union among others will find out their funding levels next February.

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A total of 14.9m people are deemed to be in sport's "core market", involved in at least two activities, and Sport England has targeted keeping them involved and reducing drop out.

Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch said: "Grassroots sports develops the stars of the future which is why we are investing almost £90 million to help the governing bodies that run them.

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"Participation levels in sports are rising and we want to maintain that momentum by allowing governing bodies to bid for extra investment from Sport England for specific projects that will encourage people to get involved and bring communities together."

The funding news has received enthusiastic backing from British Cycling president Bob Howden, whose sport attracts 6.2m participants per year.

Image: Bob Howden says new funding will help British Cycling find new participants

Howden said: "It is fantastic news that Sport England is backing British Cycling with significant investment confirmed for the next four years. I'd like to thank Sport England and the National Lottery for their continued support.

"The sustainability of our work at the grassroots has long been a key priority for us and we are becoming less reliant on public money thanks to the support of our commercial partners.

"Sport England's new focus on inactivity is a great opportunity for us to look at ways to ensure our programmes are persuading people who do no exercise to get involved in cycling. This, as well as continuing to deliver our mass participation and community rides, will be our priority."

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