Mayor's Column

It’s time to hit the (gravel) road 

The first Bathurst Rotary Gravel Cycling Festival is on this weekend, on Saturday 11 May, an initiative which will link Bathurst with our English sister city Cirencester.  

The local event offers three different rides for cyclists of all abilities. The main event is the #bathurstgravel with the challenge to complete as many laps of the course as you can within the two hour time limit. 

The cycling action then moves to Cirencester where the Bathurst Gravel ride will take to the historic grounds of Cirencester Park, where the current 9th Earl Bathurst resides. Riders in the English version of the event will have the chance to ride as many laps of the 12km route within the park as they would like during the day. Good luck to all participants in both Bathurst and Cirencester.  

It’s been a busy round of meetings kicking off my self-funded visit to England before heading to Cirencester. 

Following a meeting with the Australian High Commissioner Stephen Smith I met with Investment NSW at their London Branch. The team is dedicated to supporting trade and investment between Britain and NSW, including regional NSW.  Investment NSW support trade relations of all different kinds  and I was given a briefing on how Investment NSW works, including supporting Sister City relations like ours with Cirencester.  

Mr Heath is Senior Trade & Investment Director and with his help I'm working to grow some business-to-business opportunities between Bathurst and Cirencester, as well as university partnerships with CSU, Hartpury University and The Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester.