Redaccion
Today, the Parrote promenade hosts the exhibition ‘History of Cycling in Coruña. 1889-2025’, open to the public until June 29. This initiative, supported and collaborated by the Government of Inés Rey, is part of the complementary program of the Bicycle Day, which will be celebrated next Sunday, the 22nd, after fifteen years without doing so in the city.
The opening ceremony of this exhibition was attended by the Councilor of Culture and Tourism, Gonzalo Castro, the Councilor of Infrastructure and Mobility, Noemí Díaz, and the Councilor of Sports, Manuel Vázquez. The president of the Galician Association of Sports Journalists (Agaxorde), Alexandre Centeno, also participated in the event.
The exhibition represents a journey, in many cases unknown, through the history of cycling in Coruña from the late 19th century to the present day. This exhibition, curated by Lois Novo in recent months, uncovers unknown characters and events until now.
We can talk about places like the Méndez Núñez Promenade, where the first documented cycling event in the city took place in 1889, the birth of the Velocipedista club, the races that took place at Corralón da Gaiteira and Riazor Park, or the two-wheeled shows in the bullring.
It also reviews the great riders that the section had, first at Sala Calvet and later at its successor, Real Club Deportivo. Among them, Juan Long, the first champion the city had, or Delio Rodríguez and his brothers, who, although born in Ponteareas, defended the shield of this entity and two of them became champions of Spain. Football and cycling, which were closely linked for years in a city where the winners of the Tour, Giro, and Vuelta coincided at the Riazor municipal stadium in 1959. Because Coruña, which experienced great events, including two starts of the Vuelta a España, also suffered tragedies, as this exhibition faithfully portrays.
«From the Government of Inés Rey, we are committed to instilling healthy living habits in the population, and therefore, this Bicycle Day is a good opportunity to increase the number of users of these vehicles,» said Manuel Vázquez, Councilor of Sports. On the other hand, Gonzalo Castro highlighted the «touristic nature of this event, which will allow visitors to participate using BiciCoruña’s municipal bicycles and explore the city on two wheels.» «Since Inés Rey took office in 2019, we have been working hard to promote the use of bicycles as a sustainable and healthy means of transportation by improving the infrastructure of the bike lane, which spans over 50 kilometers, and completely renovating BiciCoruña,» stated Noemí Díaz.
The Bicycle Day will be celebrated on Sunday, the 22nd, with over a thousand registered participants. Those interested in participating can sign up on Agaxorde’s website. Participation is free with mandatory registration, starting and ending at the Parrote promenade from 10:30 am. Participants will cover a 12-kilometer route along the promenade, one of the most iconic and attractive spaces in the city. They will pass by the Tower of Hercules and circle around the sports city of Riazor.
