British Cycling is one of the biggest national sporting governing bodies, responsible from grassroots to the very elite. It’s one of the most successful Olympic and Paralympic teams in this country and is also about to stage its first ever ‘Tour of Britain Women’. (from Thu 6 to Sun 9 June 2024, with stages starting in Welshpool, Wrexham, Warrington and Manchester). British Cycling has also just signed a new landmark partnership deal with Lloyds Bank for the next 5 years
This is a special episode of Great British Bosses with British Cycling (https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/) ’s Chief Executive Jon Dutton OBE.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices)
[Music] we took it all we brought them to our land an Endless Night Ember hot and icy cold The Rage of the earth we made this curse carved it in the blood on our backs we did not see we could not but she did and in the end what will I become Sena Saga hellblade 2 play it now with Game Pass [Music] British cycling successes at the Olympics and Paro Olympics have seen it win more medals at each games from London through Rio and Tokyo it’s also winning more across more disciplines like BMX and mountain bike as well as the track the organization is also responsible for developing cycling from Grassroots right through to supporting the Riders representing Great Britain on the international stage and it’s about to Stage a major new event in the UK I’m Michael and I’m John and this is Great British bosses from anything but footy and in this special episode I’m here in Manchester at the national Cycling Center the home of British cycling to find out more ahead of the new Lloyds Bank tour of Britain and the Paris 2024 Olympics and Par Olympic Games hello my name is John D I’m chief executive of British cycling we’re here in Manchester at the home of British cycling the national Cycling Center center it’s an impressive place to come and visit firstly thank you for welcoming us and you’ve been here what just over 12 months yeah well thanks to the opportunity uh John first of all uh yeah just over uh 12 months started last April uh we’re here at our home the national Cycling Center um late last year had a significant uh refurbishment reopened 27 million p uh invested uh so we’ve got some amazing facilities I’ve got all of our Riders on program based here in Manchester our team of people um and it feels quite exciting and big plans to come we’ve got the Olympics and Par Olympics which we’ll talk about of course but firstly the huge announcement that Lloyd’s TSB have come as a strategic partner we absolutely delighted to welcome ly Bank as our lead partner um so news uh last week um a significant long-term uh deal in investment into some of the things that we’re really passionate about including our new events portfolio our social impact program uh so yeah really exciting uh times we can’t wait to uh work with Lloyds going forward to really bring it to life and what does that give you having them as lead partner the significant investment uh that we will put back into uh the sport uh gives us longevity uh in terms of having uh a lead partner uh and it’s also around some of the things that we um I know we’re going to talk about um all things here BR cycling and some of the work that we have done uh but modernization is a really key word and and that’s been part of our discussion uh with Lloyd so they have uh around about 26 million customers um three things really important to them colleagues communities uh and customers uh and that’s a sh desire and belief here so we think with a long-term uh partner that we can do some really exciting things uh going forward and really illuminate cycling perhaps in a slightly different way and from a spectating point of view or the fans point of view what will they notice will will will they see the the brand quite visually uh yes in um just a week’s time we’re sat here a week away from the s Britain uh women um so L bank will be the title partner on our tours of Britain uh so you see really strong brand and visibility uh across that race uh and across many of our different events but events is a really big Focus so we’ve got some events that we’ve taken in host that we will deliver such as tour Briton women tour Britain men also a national series event but also some brand new events that we’re going to ccreate together including an urban series uh and also a track league so uh strong brand visibility uh but also um you know investment into some new modern eras in particular in pursuit of a new audience as well I think when I came into your office I said congratulations on the deal because it’s it’s quite a tough Marketplace we know that Athletics are looking British Athletics are looking for for funding Partners so it is congratulations to you and and British cycling well thank you look it’s a a team effort been led by Darren Henry our commercial director and our team um and probably since the start of the year we’ve uh put our foot forward uh in a different way um and we’ve engaged with the business community we spoke to lots of people we’ve got a different storyboard a new narrative and we have created some new commercial uh assets um one of the things that Lloyd’s Bank are really interested in and will support us going forward is a brand new social impact program uh just employed a social impact director you know we’ve made an investment into that and that’s beyond cycling uh and and that’s really exciting because we want to engage with uh more of the communities that we will deliver our events and and there’s a great connection then between the two and you said I think it was it was gamechanging game changing Landmark deal uh really significant um and it’s important that we are financially sustainable for the future um it is tough being a CEO of any national govering body and as you said the commercial Market is challenging uh so it’s important that we try and uh try our best to win ourselves off the public purse a little and bring in commercial investment and the more commercial investment we can bring in the more decisions we can make about then reinvesting that back into the areas that we think is important there’s a really key word for me which is relevant I think the big discussion um during Paris and post Paris about the relevance of Olympic sports and we’ve seen haven’t we so if you go back to London 2012 and then you fast forward to what the sports will be in LA and we’ see new sports come in we we’re benefiting from BMX freestyle being part of the games uh but we look at uh the amazing work that James hope Gill’s doing uh in skateboarding uh we look at the growth of sport climbing of Surfing making its debut flag football Cricket in La so it’s a really big uh challenge for all of us that we have to be relevant to the whole of the population I think what that means is a new younger audience maybe with different expectations uh this huge growth in urban Sports and we we really excited to be in that space and BMX freestyle in particular just offers a different uh value proposition well you mentioned it slightly earlier the tour of Britain it’s the it’s not the first time of course that people have heard about the tour of Britain but it’s the first time that it’s the women’s tour of Britain and it’s the first time that British cycling is organizing it from beginning to end it is it’s quite it’s quite quite exciting it’s also quite daunting I mean we’ve only really taken this uh in house uh from January uh so as we sit here uh still in the month of May uh five months to organize a world tour um professional uh bike race uh almost 100 Riders um and uh the team have worked so hard I it’s just been incredible uh we’ve got some amazing host uh we’ve got quite a tight geography starting in Wales uh finishing in Greater Manchester um but we’re going to welcome some of the world’s best uh Riders we’ve also made a big commitment to British Riders we’ve got six six British Continental teams a British race director um so we’re really excited not just for this year but also for the future uh we’ve got tour Britain men coming in September um and that was one of the big decisions that we’ve made over the past uh few months that we have an events company a commercial arms to the organization uh what that means uh johnes were able to behave uh differently to the National governing body we’re also uh about to set up a charitable foundation so we’ve eventally we got three bits of the organization that can um behave in different ways um and hopefully then uh particularly from a monetization and Commercial perspective uh can bring in much needed Revenue um into the sport so uh the two tours um I think there’s duwel in the crown of domestic road racing but we then see the elite Riders many of those uh amazing athletes that are British that are currently riding on uh Continental uh roads uh we will see them uh right here uh in the UK on I RS because we’ll talk about it you’ve got this amazing venue here for the track cyclists you’ve got BMX here as well you’ve got other locations around the country it’s important from a road race point of view that there is as you say something in this country for British Riders it’s really important so we set up a road task force uh late last year led by Ed pansy uh and a group of people from across the sports um and they’ve delivered a series of recommendations uh which we’ll work on and and it will be over years uh to try and address some of the challenges of rooad rising and I think many people will appreciate how challenge it challenge it is delivering anything on the public Highway uh there’s obviously safety policing it’s really expensive um so what we must do is make sure that we deliver our tours of Britain to the very best highest standard that we engage with a new audience we remember this is an entertainment product as well uh never lose sight of that and then we also also support the rest of the domestic race calendar and it might be we get to less is more that we have fewer races but more High high quality uh races safe races high quality racing experiences and also covering the geography we we represent which is the whole of Great Britain the women’s tour as well didn’t happen last year but it’s obviously back for this first one of of the tour of Britain and that’s really crucial as well it’s absolutely fundamental to um our future going forward um not having that race blasher not having an offer for uh women uh not just here domestically but also internationally not seeing Great Britain on the uh UCI inter calendar uh was something that we wanted to fix um and what that’s meant is we’ve had to Sprint very quickly uh I think we talked about being a race against uh the clock and it has been um but we’ve got some really talented people that have made that happen and it’s so so important um and we’re on a journey to complete equality and parity with the two races so this year we’ll have a four-stage uh women’s race and a six-stage men’s race next year our desire is to have six and six uh everything the same prize money the whole uh bit and the experience and the way that everyone is treated um and we we want to do that within the next 12 months so the the bit this year is uh Foundation uh getting the races on delivering them really well but also looking to the Future uh and we can look to not just next year but many years of growing these properties um engaging with more people and then the social impact program is really important because rather than the race comes past you stand at the side of the road free of course uh you have a great experience you see the Riders and the Caravan and all of the uh all the things that happen and then you might go home with that memory and and there’s no connection to anything else so if we have a social impact program that’s deeply embedded in communities that gives it longevity and it gives us the ability to connect with people uh in different ways some research that we uh UND last summer show that 26 million adults have ridden a bike in the last 12 months that’s an astonishing figure the reality is we probably connect with about 1 million of those people so we’re on a journey to try and connect with more people to understand people’s motivation to get more involved in active travel in campaigning in the recreational space um and also be quite realistic about that with the resource that we have that the team that we’ve got but uh the world is changing uh we need to change with it and that goes back to that word of modernization behaving in a different way it felt like around 2012 and and post the London Olympics that cycling could overtake running in this country that they felt like there was this movement that cycling was going to dominate um do you think you’ve capitalized on that enough and and is this a a way we talk about the the social side of the the tour of Britain and the community side that actually you’ve realized that you didn’t go quite as far I think if we reflect back to 2012 i i i describ them as the housian days uh for cycling we had um Brad Wiggins winning the toour of France we had everything that London 2012 brought both on the track and uh the road and across the different disciplines um and it was an amazing time wasn’t it um in cycling then some well documented challenges for British cycling and for the sport as a whole and then the pandemic and the world changing so I would rather look forward and uh look back uh I can’t affect change uh that’s gone before uh we can certainly affect our future and I think that’s part of what we’re trying to do here is looking through a different lens modernizing engaging with more not absolutely focusing on Elite road racing and recognizing actually we’ve got these new um I I call them new people will probably be unhappy with the word new uh but Pro properly disciplines that haven’t had the current attention um and we’re not giving them the current attention and and we overly seven disciplines but there are also many that sit outside of that that are in enormous growth so gravel um is one more people um Tak part in sportives and um cycling on gravel than ever before um we have uh trials we have a new property in snowbike who know that might might feature in the Winter Olympics quite hard to do snowbike in the UK uh at the moment but all the different ways that you can ride your bike and that just makes it quite special so we’re not just focusing on one particular thing so I’d rather Focus uh on the future um and acknowledge the environment’s change so we have to uh change with it the socioeconomic challenges that we all face in our daily lives and also the quite Mad geopolitical World in which we live in um and we just got to not feel sorry for ourselves and and and find a way through that and find a new exciting way through it and I know you said it wasn’t just about the elite racing but what’s your ambition for the tour of Britain could it become bigger and bigger and really a key part of the UCI calendar I think it can can become bigger um we we don’t really have plans of what ultimately it might become we’re really excited by tour Britain women uh we think that’s got exponential uh growth um but I think our vision at the moment is uh build a solid foundation which starts in 2024 grow the races give a higher quality customer experience to the people that will stand at the side of the road give a higher um experience to the people that will um watch on broadcast on digital um we’re quite interested in technology and how we can innovate uh we know there’s a big conversation about athletes data full stop across Sports um and and all of that is is the future we’ve got to be sustainable you’ve got to deliver uh it so Financial sustainability is really important uh and only yesterday we launched our environmental sustainability uh strategy and there almost a j to position in cycling you’ve got this incredibly sustainable Sports then when you have an event and you might have to have helicopters and all sorts of other things it’s just how we find our way through it and that’s not a challenge unique to us to France welta jro other big races will have those challenges but we also want to be leaders um in that space so um yeah how we deliver things in a different way greater customer experience fantastic Rider experience and the parkour cor and making exciting so one of the things we’ve done with the tourit and Men this year is we’ve gone from eight stages to six and back to maybe less is more and we can put maybe higher impact quality racing with different parkour into uh those races so hugely excited by the future uh but being realistic about some of the challenges and the financial cost of delivering things uh we’ just got to keep our eye on that and not uh not go too fast too quickly but also with full of ambition and desire last one on the tour of Britain how key is Rod ellingworth bringing him here it’s just brilliant I mean Rod is just such a fantastic uh individual um hugely respected uh with the teams we’ve already seen the impact that Rod has made uh it really super important for us that British first um and there aren’t any other race directors that are British on the world tour at the moment um and Rod um what I really like about Rod is he’s prepared to challenge us he walked into my office a few weeks ago he said I’ve got Lads of ideas for 2025 and I said Rod let’s just focus on the here and no but but it’s brilliant because he’s already thinking about maybe doing things in a different way and he’s coming from Team sky and team inos and that just incredible experience of working with the world’s very best Riders and he’s bringing that here into our races so nothing but excitement so we’re here in Manchester at the home of British cycling the The New National Cycling Center because it’s had an amazing amount of money spent on it and and transformation it it has 27 million pounds invested I mean we we’re blessed uh we have um a wonderful relationship with Manchester City Council who own the facility uh I think it’s well documented the waterfall fund uh the commercial rent that the football club paid to the city council and how that’s reinvested back into Community facilities so we we’ve you can see Man City thead around the corner we are I mean if you just go back to pre the Commonwealth Games and you look you take the helicops of view across East Manchester and then you look at it now the co-op live Arena has um opened we’ve got the football club the training facility uh we’ve got uh here at the vrum and our BMX uh facility uh and there is more growth and more development uh it’s an amazing place to turn up to every day and work we’ve got 130 plus Riders who are on program who are funded uh to come here to train uh every day to compete at the very best uh so yeah it’s just incredibly uplifting environment to work in and and BMX has changed cycling as well you mentioned some of the other cycling EV that you guys look after but certainly it feels like with Tokyo and then Rio when and and London when we won medals in the racing it’s it’s a totally different sport but it’s still under your umbrella it is and a different community and it’s been really great to get out and see some of our national series uh events uh and see the community that has been built uh particularly through BMX racing um and we’ve had on field success so best River Kai white Charlotte Worthington um Kieran Riley winning in Glasgow uh so current world champion um and very hopeful for what’s ahead in Paris but it’s super super important that whatever happens in Paris it’s the block that sits underneath it and the foundation that sits underneath that um and I attended an event last summer and I think there’s a thousand riders in BMX a thousand and you know that’s everything from age five or six all the way through to 60 70 but a community a real community and and and they have different expectations so again we’ve just got to flex and uh behave in a different way um and put our arms around everyone that wants to ride a bike uh that’s really really important I think the bike itself uh part of our social impact program is around tackling inequalities around removing barriers and we know that there are some people that maybe can’t afford uh to have a bike so so that’s an area that we really really want to focus in take all the the barers away uh let people enjoy riding and then also the talent ID uh that we have been incredibly good at uh previously is continue that journey and find the best talent to come through into our performance pathway this is Great British bosses from anything but footy we’re talking to John Dutton the CEO of British cycling in Manchester we took it all we brought them to our land an Endless Night Ember hot and icy cold The Rage of the earth we made this curse carved it in the blood on our backs we did not see we could not but she she did and in the end what will I become Sena Saga hellblade 2 play it now with Game Pass you mentioned about the Olympics and the par Olympics and Paris 2024 let’s let’s just focus on that a little bit how important is it it seems a really stupid question but how important is it for British cycling that you have success it’s important and um we’ve talked so far John predominantly about the Olympics and we haven’t yet touched on the par Olympics I mean we run a fully integrated program here in Manchester we’ve got some amazing uh athletes um some iconic athletes D Ser story Jodi cundy uh kadina Cox and more on our par Olympic uh program um so there’s the inspiration uh piece um so people performing at the best and other people seeing that and having that uh aspiration to following the footsteps um success um I think for the last four games we’ve topped the medal table um in cycling uh we’re in a really good place uh this time I think what’s most exciting is that if you go back to Glasgow and the World Championships last year a lot of the people who medled a lot of the people who performed were some of the younger athletes maybe not yet the H whole names who we will see come through and perform in Paris and and also hopefully go on to La so winning medals is of course important and it’s particularly important to the individuals who’ve given up their lifetime to go and compete um I think for us as an organization it’s also what we do do with that and I’m really interested in how we fuse medal success and that visibility with delivering social purpose and I think if we can do the two together then we’ve got the complete component part rather than being solely in pursuit of winning medals for winning medals EG and when we know the nation will get behind all sports uh in the Olympics and Par Olympics we have huge national pride I just think for us it’s just got to be that bit more and I I I feel a sense of responsibility as a sport that reaches a large percentage of the population uh that we perhaps do that in a slightly different way going forward uh we’ve got a fantastic performance director Steven Park who’s doing amazing things and just having some really interesting conversations with uh Stephen uh going forward about how we continue to make sure that we uh join the two things together um so medal success important social purpose uh super important and we’ve touched on it as well it’s not just about winning medals on the track it’s actually the BMX the racing the freestyle the mountain bike the road it helps across the board it helps across the board I mean we are probably one of the only cycling federations in the world that are still competitive across the five Olympic disciplines uh and ultra competitive across the two par Olympic uh disciplines uh we saw uh the previous weekend Tom Pitcock winning in the Czech Republic Tom will defend uh his Olympic uh title in mountain bike cross country um and we’ve qualified I think for the first time ever uh two places in both men’s and women Mountain bik so qualification still to be finalized but I think we will take the biggest Squad ever uh to Olympic games which is again it just shows the strength of depth across the disciplines uh and the par Olympics is is almost an embarrassment of riches we we just have so many amazing people we can only select a uh specific number but the team are doing a great job in uh in qualification and it’s interesting that perhaps in the Olympic disciplines we’ve got younger uh athletes coming through the liks of Emma fuka Josh Tarling in the paralympic space we’ve got these people that have been around and been so successful Dam Ser story uh being won so we’ve sort of sort of got everything across the board uh but we don’t want to wrestl our Laurels and that Talent pathway coming through and the identification of talent and more diverse uh Talent is really super important uh to us as well I think we want to get to a place La particularly Brisbane uh but High Ambitions that the podium is more truly representative of the community that we serve and I think that’s a job for us to do I think there’s a more of a diversity challenge across the whole of cycling that we collectively need to address and I mean globally uh but but we we recognize that and we we’re ready to do something about that as well obviously Paris this year the athletes on the track and in the field will win money for a gold medal according to sebco the president of the world Athletics the UCI president doesn’t think that’s a very good idea where do you sit on it well first of all I mean it’s not our decision it’s a decision for the International Federation and I I think what um world Athletics have done has prompted a really interesting philosophical um question and I think that conversation should continue um athletes have short careers and I think athletes should be properly rewarded uh for the dedication that they uh put in um I think the interesting thing about world Athletics is the focus is on the Olympics um so if we if anyone asks our opinion going forward our opinion is always we run a fully integrated program and athletes should be rewarded across the piece both from Olympic and Par Olympic perspective um but I I just think it’s a really interesting conversation and I think it will continue long after Paris and as we get into la which on the face of it probably will be the most expensive Olympic Games ever staged um I think that uh pressure on the public purse the investment of commercial Brands uh and how athletes are rewarded uh I think there’s going to be plenty of conversations over the next couple years about that because you can imagine I’ve spoken to a lot of athletes in the last few weeks haven’t met one who doesn’t think is a good idea yeah he’s got to be be thought through always with things like this the law of unintended uh consequences uh I’m going to make sure that the the revenue that is being driven we know there’s enormous Revenue driven out of an Olympic and Par Olympic cycle um but some of that needs to be invested back uh into the infrastructure into growing the pipeline of talent um but you know we we we would warmly welcome being part of the conversation and we would warmly welcome athletes being properly rewarded for the dedication that they uh give before we move on what’s your favorite Olympic sport John what what are you looking forward to uh at Paris 2024 apart from cycling all five Olympic disciplines also par Olympic disciplines um I I just I’m I’m such an Olympic uh fan I mean going to London uh 2012 and and actually I worked in football uh previously and was involved football was that and and was and was involved in I’ll tell you a a small story The the world blind uh football uh championships of which Dave Clark yes played for England in uh 2010 in the qualifier then uh in London 2012 Dave is of course now the uh CEO of the British paralympic Association doing amazing things um and that just stood out the the the the opportunity to work with people uh who had a disability uh but wanting to treated as athletes didn’t want any want to feel sorry for themselves and they go and perform and do amazing things and and that to me is just truly inspirational and I see that every day when I come here to the uh to the valad Drome so I I’m just looking forward to seeing so many sports that don’t have that visibility and everything from uh shooting badminton table tennis archery all of the amazing sports that we have in the Olympic family uh and cycling playing a really big part in that as well and I can hear your passion for Paro Olympic sport as well obviously it’s the first time Paris has staged the par Olympics their third Olympics but first par Olympics and it feels because of Tokyo and covid Rio we know nearly didn’t happen literally from a par Olympic point of view that it feels like this could be the first time that the par Olympics really kicks on from 2012 I think so we all have fun memories don’t we of 2012 I I think we all recognize the amazing production values that channel 4 have had in terms of how uh that visibility has come across um and I think Paris as a whole is so important if you take Tokyo obviously a pandemic games um before Rio before that and then we’ve got LA and Brisbane is the only one in our time on and and you know we we wake up we get our of bed we go to work and and we switch on the TV and we’re watching it um and I think there something quite special about that but I think the par Olympics I I just think the whole way the games both Olympics and Paralympics will be illuminated the the amazing landscape uh of Paris um you know can’t wait absolutely can’t wait last time we spoke on Great British bosses you were preparing for a rugby league World Cup uh being held in in this country and that was obviously a a huge event but it was a one-off event how are you finding being CEO of British cycling which is across as we’ve already discussed so many different things it’s very different uh John if you think of the rubby League World Cup in event it had a start a middle and an end it was protracted by 12 months due to postponement uh but I I was uh I don’t think I’ll ever be in the position in my career again I was there on day Zero so help get the funding in place and build the board and the team and we’re always building to the event and the event came and uh happened and then of course everyone moved on whereas he uh uh a very mature organization uh big Workforce uh really privileged uh to have so many talented people um so it’s a slightly different uh approach but guess what the challenges are pretty much uh the same in terms of driving commercial Revenue uh being financially sustainable uh making sure that we can bring in the best talent that we can deliver the very best uh so um different um really enjoyable uh and I’m enjoying the challenge uh and I think my brief from the board when I came in uh was to make a difference um was to first of all just cut our cloth accordingly um and then secondly to invest into grow uh and that’s very much what we focused on over the last uh 12 months so such fob memories of um rub League World Cup 21 uh so much uh personal learning personal growth personal development uh and hopefully um using some of that now in uh in this fantastic exciting job I’ve got you won’t comment on it but from afar it feels like British cycling has kind of got even again it had very much ups and downs since 2012 that we that we talked about but it feels like you’ve come in and you’ve stabilized things what’s your biggest success do you think in the year oh gosh well you’re absolutely right I let other people be the judge of uh sort of success um but for me it’s about making a difference and and whenever the right time to uh leave the organization if I can reflect back and think you know I’ve made a difference the organization is more financially sustainable uh that we uh have nurtured the talent coming through and I don’t just mean from on the field I mean off the field um as well uh that we’re reaching more people that we making a great contribution to social value social purpose um so there’s a sense of momentum I think at the moment there’s a sense of positivity um I like the Ruby League World Cup uh I’m really big on culture um and that’s something it’s a bit different here because we are because we cover Great Britain we’ve got lots of people out in the field in Regional roles we’ve got our performance team who are literally traveling the world at the moment in pursuit of qualification we’ve got a sort of administration Center here and everything in between uh so it’s just to make sure that as an organization as one organization we continue to be together um and I’m really proud of the culture and the people in the organization that uh we are developing it’s uh it’s been great I didn’t I don’t think I’d met anyone before I came into the organization um and certainly you know our challenges on brand reputation finances are well documented uh so the only way to um do something about that is to take action we can say lots of nice words but action be louder than words and hopefully over the last 12 months we started to put some of the foundations in place and there’s been lots of talk in not just down the road from here in Manchester but um in government about getting people back not working from home all in one place all in an office you’ve already said there you can’t do that as your organization you are spread around the country you don’t have to all be in one place to have a culture do you not at all and and we’ve got a hybrid workplace which I think is it is the future um it would be very easy for me to say look let’s have a policy everyone has to work in the office for 5 days or or whatever it is um that that wouldn’t succeed what will succeed is actually uh if people are based locally in Manchester actually want you know people want to come in the office you want to spend some time with the colleagues we are uh social animals human beings and um we should never forget that and also very mindful that people live a long way away we’re sat in Manchester we got people in Plymouth in the southwest and Southeast and further north um but trying to find a way collectively of how we come together um and you know it feels like at the moment we’re getting the balance there are always uh ways to improve U but I really encourage challenge I really encourage feedback um and just constantly keeping better and you know if PE if people if people enjoy coming to work then they’re going to make a greater contribution and uh and that’s definitely something I’ve always sort of carried through in my career there’s always something that comes up that you’re not expecting I’m not sure anyone thought there’ be a general election before an Olympic games um you mentioned about the funding whether that will continue any indication from either party about whether UK sport will continue to get the funding and then you obviously benefit from that I think UK sport the national lottery and sports England have been just made such an enormous contribution uh we all know that there is pressure on the public person when you put sport against health and education and defense and all of the different things that that’s going on uh but you know we we are we want to do our bit not just for pretty cycling but for um the UK sport as a whole uh and make sure that we can continue to drive investment so um you know it feels like we’re in as good a place with the instability uh that there is it also feels like um people need to continue to drive efficiencies um and the big bit for me is that we must stay relevant and staying relevant is excuse me is delivering on the field of play but is also delivering social purpose and I think if we can do that if we can make a contribution as sport not just recycling uh to health to productivity to growth to the big things and whilst they might seem a long way removed from what happens on the field of play I don’t think they are and I think sport has an enormous part to playing all of those things so I guess uh who knows what’s going to happen on the 4th of July but maybe new Administration um I I don’t think that uh they’re going to uh look at sport in a different way um perhaps they’ll look at sport and say actually it can make such a enormous contribution to people’s lives uh and if we’re ready as cycling as sport to play that social Pur contribution uh then I think we will be successful with continued funding but it’s also really super important that we drive new commercial Revenue into sport as a whole so that we just try and be a little less reliant on the public purse and and that’s very very easy to say and very difficult to do and I appreciate how tough that is for uh many of my peers out there uh at the moment let’s finish how we started the Lloyds TSB lead partner how how long is the um deal for and what do you hope to have achieved by the end of it it’s a 5year deal uh which we’re really pleased with there’s a lot of co-creation um so we’ve uh agreed a number of themes some of the things within the themes do yet exist and that’s really exciting in itself so Urban series uh track leag some of our social impact program uh what do we want to achieve uh from British cycling to have made a difference to have engaged with more people um to have left Rec cycling in a better place and then to kick on and make sure that continued investment uh comes in um do L want uh from the deal is hopefully uh that and you know the connection to the communities customers and colleagues and I think we’re able to uh do that so it’s really exciting start of the journey um starts in a week’s time with the tour Britain women see the brand uh and continue to work with that brand and many others you know we are fortunate that Lloyd’s are our lead partner we’ve got many other partners in pry cycling and just want to give people a great experience and continue to invest it not just in cycling but also in sport as a whole well we wish you all the best with the tour of Britain and the Olympics and the Paralympics and then another tour of Britain it’s a busy a busy time we appreciate you making time for us uh CEO of British cycling John Dutton thank you so much for talking to Great British bosses thank you very much John thank you Sports social podcast Network