
Sharon Dyson was awarded the title Cycling Weekly's 2023 Local Hero, in recognition of the work she puts in to keep grassroots racing alive
Given recent news about the uncertainty surrounding the Tour of Britain, it’s timely to hear how the country’s marquee race can always attract new and passionate fans into the sport. Back in 2015, little more than two years after taking early retirement following 30 years in the fire service, Sharon Dyson began to accompany her late father, Jack, to the weekly time trial run by their local club, Barnesbury CC. A keen bird photographer, he’d heard that the 2015 Tour of Britain featured a stage finishing in Blyth, just north of Newcastle, and bought a new camera for the occasion.