Paralympic champion Lizzi Jordan calls on Chancellor to scrap VAT on tandems

by Cycling Shorts. | Sep 23, 2026

All images copyright SWPix

Paralympic champion Lizzi Jordan calls on Chancellor to scrap VAT on tandems for visually impaired riders

Jordan says it would cost the Treasury around £26,000 a year to recognise tandems as adaptive bicycles and end what she calls an avoidable inequality.

Paralympic champion Lizzi Jordan MBE has written to the Chancellor ahead of the Autumn Budget. She is asking for standard tandem bicycles bought by certified visually impaired people to be made exempt from VAT.

Adaptive bikes such as trikes and hand bikes are already exempt. Tandems are not, because they aren’t used only by disabled people. Jordan argues that for many visually impaired people, a tandem is not a leisure luxury but an essential adaptation. With a sighted pilot, it lets them ride safely, as around half of Britain’s adults do each year.

This is a fairness issue. It is an accessibility issue. And it is an opportunity for the Government to make a meaningful change,” Jordan wrote in her open letter.

A financial barrier

Tandems cost much more than standard bicycles, and Jordan says the current rules put an unnecessary financial barrier in front of people who are already at a disadvantage.

A 2025 analysis by the Royal National Institute of Blind People found that blind and partially sighted working-age adults are about half as likely to be in paid work as non-disabled people, at 40% compared with 80%. Office for National Statistics data shows that disabled workers across the UK earn about 12.7% less per hour than non-disabled workers. Sport England reports that disabled people are “almost twice as likely” to be physically inactive.

Jordan puts the cost to the Treasury at around £26,000 a year. “The financial impact of this recognition would be minimal, but the social impact would be transformative,” she wrote.

From life support to Paralympic gold

The campaign comes from Jordan’s own experience. Nine years ago, aged 19, she lost her sight suddenly after complications from an illness left her in a coma on life support for eight weeks. She had been fully sighted, independent and active. She woke up completely blind.

After the NHS saved her life, she learned to walk again and later went to a British Cycling Talent ID day, where her para-cycling career began. She has since won Paralympic gold in the women’s tandem 1km time trial with pilot Danni Khan, along with six world titles and four more World Championship medals. This summer she added a bronze with Team England at her first Commonwealth Games.

“While I have chosen to pursue elite sport, cycling offers so many benefits and this ask is simply about equality in everyday life,” she said. “I feel it is my moral duty to use my platform now to ensure that every blind or visually impaired person in this country has equal access to something as basic as more affordable bicycles.”

Lizzi Jordan | Tax Free Tandems

Tax-free Tandems: Paralympic champion Lizzi Jordan calls on government to make tandems tax-free and enable more access to bikes for the visually impaired.

Jordan developed the campaign through the Lloyds Pedal with Purpose programme. It is one of several initiatives British Cycling and Lloyds run together to remove barriers to cycling.

Cross-sector backing

The campaign has support in Westminster. Steve Darling, MP for Torbay, said: “The current rules, meaning that tandem bikes are not recognised as adaptive cycles, make little sense. We need to encourage people with disabilities to stay active rather than making specialist equipment more expensive. I hope that the Chancellor sees this error and reverses it at the budget.”

It is also officially backed by the Bicycle Association, British Blind Sport, ParalympicsGB, the British Olympic Association, Cycling UK, Living Streets, the Bikeability Trust, the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, and Get Yourself Active (Disability Rights UK).

In her letter, Jordan describes the change as “a practical, affordable, and highly visible opportunity to improve disability inclusion in the United Kingdom”. She has asked to meet the Chancellor and their team to discuss it.

Lizzi’s campaign is officially backed by:

The Bicycle Association

British Blind Sport

ParalympicsGB

Living Streets

Cycling UK

Bikeability Trust

Walk Wheel Cycle Trust

Get Yourself Active (Disability Rights UK)

The British Olympic Association

Sensational Saturday: Finucane Stars at Lloyds National Track Championships

by Anna Magrath | Feb 21, 2026

All Images © Cycepix4u / Chris Maher

Sensational Saturday: Finucane Stars at Lloyds National Track Championships

Day three of the Lloyds National Track Championships in Manchester delivered an action-packed Saturday, highlighted by Emma Finucane’s commanding Women’s Keirin victory and a flurry of multi-title wins across the individual, team, and para-cycling disciplines.

Here is how the action unfolded at the National Cycling Centre:

Women’s Events:

Women’s Keirin

• Gold: Emma Finucane

• Silver: Lowri Thomas

• Bronze: Lauren Bell

In the final event of the day, Emma Finucane put on a flawless performance. She dominated from the front, building a massive gap to secure the gold in style. Behind her, an intense battle for the podium saw Lowri Thomas narrowly pip defending champion Lauren Bell for silver.

I raced in the Keirin last year and got silver, so I’m really happy about how this Keirin went… It was a massive group of girls who raced really well, and really fast, so I am really proud of this one.

Emma Finucane

Women’s Points Race

• Gold: Anna Morris (Private Member)

• Silver: Josie Knight (DAS-Hutchinson)

• Bronze: Katie Archibald (dooleys cycles)

Anna Morris stormed to her second victory of the week following Thursday’s Scratch win. After a reserved start, Morris, alongside Archibald, Knight, Jess Roberts, and Phoebe Taylor, made a decisive move at the halfway point to gain a lap and 20 points. Morris and Archibald traded late attacks, but Morris secured second on the final sprint to seal the title by more than ten points. Knight managed to sneak fourth in the final dash to edge Archibald out of the silver medal spot.

Men’s Events:

Men’s Elimination

• Gold: Matt Bostock (Rapha CC)

• Silver: William Tidball (Velo Club Villefranche Beaujolais)

• Bronze: Charlie Tanfield (Private Member)

Matt Bostock secured his second national champion jersey of the weekend in a chaotic elimination race. With a high-calibre trio remaining for the final laps, confusion arose regarding the bronze medal elimination between Tanfield and Tidball. Bostock capitalized on the hesitation, riding away for a straightforward victory.

It’s mint, especially since the elimination is kind of a gamble. It’s always much trickier to win than other races so it feels good.

Matt Bostock

Men’s Team Sprint

• Gold: Team Inspired A (Matthew Richardson, Marcus Hiley, Harry Radford)

• Silver: Team Inspired B (Ed Lowe, Hamish Turnbull, Hayden Norris)

• Bronze: Team Inspired C (Lyall Craig, Joe Truman, Archie Gill, Oliver Pettifer)

Team Inspired A backed up their dominant qualifying run with gold, but they had to fight for it. After an inspired turn by Hamish Turnbull, Team B held a slender lead heading into the final lap. However, Matthew Richardson proved he was on another level, unleashing a massive burst of speed to swing the pendulum back to Team A and win by over a second.

Para-Cycling Events:

Women’s B Individual Pursuit

• Gold: Sophie Unwin & Jenny Holl (Private Member)

• Silver: Georgina Bullen & Miriam Jessett (Born to Bike)

• Bronze: Amelia Robertson & Kate Richardson

World champions Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl completed a spectacular hat-trick, securing their third national title of the week. Racing in their rainbow stripes, the duo produced a textbook ride to overtake Bullen and Jessett in the second half of the pursuit.

We are world champions right now and riding at home, which is not something you get to do all the time, so that has been super cool.

Jenny Holl

Women’s C1-5 Scratch

• Gold: Crystal Lane-Wright (Private Member)

• Silver: Rebecca Newark (Jadan Glasdon pb Vive le Velo)

Crystal Lane-Wright made history by becoming the inaugural women’s C Scratch champion, adding to her C5 Elimination win from Thursday. Lane-Wright, Newark, and Morgan Newberry accelerated away from the pack just past the halfway mark. After dropping Newberry, Lane-Wright stayed cool on Newark’s wheel until the bell, powering over the top on the final bend to cruise to victory.

Men’s B Sprint

• Gold: Frederick Ireland & Aaron Pope (Private Member)

• Silver: Tim Caldwell & Benedict Elliot (Weaver Valley CC)

An illness to pre-race favourite Matthew Rotherham (piloting world champion James Ball) blew the competition wide open. Ireland and Pope—who only got on a tandem together for the first time this week—seized the opportunity, comfortably beating Caldwell and Elliot in the final.

Men’s MC C1-3 Time Trial

• Gold: Finlay Graham (1:08.546)

• Silver: Matthew Robertson (+1.210s)

• Bronze: Callum Deboys

Finlay Graham blitzed the track to win his third gold of the week, overcoming a tough field to secure the national jersey.

I have not done much track stuff, but, obviously winning three events, I could not have asked for any better.

Finlay Graham

Men’s C4-5 Time Trial

• Gold: Alex Jones (1:06.221)

• Silver: Jody Cundy (+0.243s)

• Bronze: Sebastien Tyrie (1:09.468)

In the most fiercely contested para-cycling event of the day, Alex Jones pulled off an overwhelming victory, edging out silver medallist Jody Cundy by a razor-thin margin of just 0.243 seconds.

It is pretty overwhelming as I did not expect that and I am just lost for words right now.

Alex Jones

Richardson Dominates and Knight Shocks at the Lloyds National Track Championships

by Anna Magrath | Feb 20, 2026

All images © Cyclepix4u

Day Two Highlights: Richardson Dominates and Knight Shocks at the Lloyds National Track Championships

Day two of the Lloyds National Track Championships delivered a blistering showcase of elite track racing. The velodrome witnessed Matthew Richardson cruise to a second national sprint title, Josie Knight pull off a dramatic late surge to dethrone a world champion, and Kadeena Cox master a demanding new distance. Meanwhile, bold attacks and high-stakes Paralympic events rounded out a thrilling day of competition.

Event Recaps & Key Moments

Men’s Sprint: Richardson Back on Top

Matthew Richardson (Team Inspired) secured his second national jersey in GB colours with a masterclass in control. Cruising through the knockout rounds undefeated, he met teammate Harry Ledingham-Horn in the gold medal final. Ledingham-Horn had previously bested Archie Gill (Private Member) in the semis, but Richardson proved untouchable on the line.

It’s good to win another national jersey. It was a conservative day. I respected my opponents but obviously raced smart as I didn’t want to waste too much energy… It wasn’t the hardest day I’ve ever had on a bike but it’s all part of learning. It’s still very special but nothing will quite top the first time, as last year was obviously really special.

Matthew Richardson

Women’s Individual Pursuit: Knight Edges Out Morris

Josie Knight (DAS Hutchinson) set the tone early by qualifying just 0.141 seconds ahead of reigning world and national champion Anna Morris (Private Member). In the gold medal showdown, Morris established a strong early lead, but Knight unleashed a fierce late charge to close the gap, snatching victory right at the finish line to deny Morris’s title defence. Erin Boothman (Liv AlUla Jayco) secured the bronze ahead of Jessica Roberts (Spectra Racing).

All images © Cyclepix4u

Honestly I think it’s an absolute privilege to race Anna [Morris]. She pushes you on to be better, you’re up against a world champion and that comes with some pedigree. You want to beat the best and that’s her, I’m happy that I’ve done that today.

Josie Knight

Women’s C4-5 Time-Trial: Cox Conquers the Kilo

Kadeena Cox added another gold to her collection, showcasing immense adaptability in the new, longer kilo distance. Racing last, Cox executed a flawless and confident ride, pacing herself brilliantly to grow stronger as the laps ticked down. Crystal Lane-Wright (BCP – Private Member) took a well-earned silver, and Rebecca Newark (JAD) claimed bronze.

I’m used to riding the 500m and just going all guns blazing, so I tried to taper back the first lap a little bit so I had a bit more on the second and third… It does feel like a massive difference with the new event. I am a ‘sprinter’ sprinter—one lap is probably my best, so it’s a challenge, but also I feel like it’s the type of challenge I’ve needed for the past few years.

Kadeena Cox

Standout Performances in the Scratch and Elimination Races

• Matt Bostock lit up the men’s scratch race with a bold, early attack that sealed a massive statement win.

• Fin Graham and Archie Atkinson both reigned victorious in the high-stakes, newly introduced Paralympic Games elimination races for the C1-C3 and C4-C5 categories, respectively.

(For the full daily round-up and live results from the National Cycling Centre, please visit the official event page.)

Morris Defends, Tanfield Topples the Champ

by Anna Magrath | Feb 19, 2026

The opening day of the Lloyds National Track Championships at Manchester’s National Cycling Centre was a masterclass in tactical racing and raw power, with seven national titles decided in a packed Friday session.

Here is how the action unfolded:

Morris Defends, Tanfield Topples the Champ

Anna Morris successfully defended her Women’s Scratch Race title after a high-stakes tactical battle. Morris remained patient within a congested pack until the final five laps, when she countered an attack by Josie Knight. While Knight eventually faded, Morris powered through the final stretch to secure gold. Jenny Holl surged late to take silver, while 17-year-old Phoebe Taylor rounded out the podium with bronze.

In the Men’s Individual Pursuit, Charlie Tanfield delivered the performance of the day. In a head-to-head against reigning world champion Josh Charlton, Tanfield turned a razor-thin lead at the 1km mark into a dominant victory. He finished in 4:04.010—more than four seconds ahead of Charlton. Leon Atkins secured the bronze, defeating Michael Gill with a time of 4:10.846.

History in the Women’s C Elimination

The championships saw a historic debut for the Women’s C Elimination race. Crystal Lane-Wright (C5) and Elisabeth Simpson (C2) became the first-ever gold medalists in this event.

Simpson outperformed Amelia Cass to take the C2 honors.
Lane-Wright, competing in her first national championship since becoming a mother, survived a near-elimination early on before powering away to win the C5 title ahead of Morgan Newberry.

Dominance in the Team & Para Scratch Races

The playfully named “Jean Claude Tan Damme” squad—comprising James Ball, Matt Rotherham, Sophie Unwin, and Jenny Holl—lived up to their billing in the Mixed B Team Sprint. They dominated the final with a time of 50.760, finishing nearly two seconds clear of their closest rivals.

In the Men’s C1-5 Scratch Race, Archie Atkinson (C4-5) and Fin Graham (C1-3) proved why they are global forces. After 40 laps of trading attacks, Atkinson unleashed a perfectly timed sprint at the bell to take the overall win and the C4-5 title. Graham, finishing third across the line, secured the gold for the C1-3 category.

Sprint Qualifiers: Setting the Pace

The speedsters took to the boards for qualifying rounds, signaling a fast weekend ahead:

Men’s 200m Sprint: Matt Richardson set a blistering pace of 9.192 seconds to top the standings.
Women’s Team Sprint: Team Inspire A (Parris-Smith, Thomas, and world champion Emma Finucane) clocked a 47.077, leading the field by a significant 1.5-second margin heading into the finals.

Men’s C1-3 Scratch

Gold – Fin Graham

Silver – Charlie Stanton Stock

Bronze – Matthew Robertson

Women’s Scratch

Gold – Anna Morris

Silver – Jenny Holl

Bronze – Phoebe Taylor

Mixed Team B Sprint

Gold – Jean Claude Tan-Damme

Silver – Freddie Said Go

Men’s C4-5 Scratch

Gold – Archie Atkinson

Silver – Will Bjergfelt

Bronze – Xavier Disley

Men’s Individual Pursuit

Gold – Charlie Tanfield

Silver – Josh Charlton

Bronze – Leon Atkins

Women’s C5 Elimination

Gold – Crystal Lane-Wright

Silver – Morgan Newberry

Bronze – Elsie Hughes

Women’s C2 Elimination

Gold – Elisabeth Simpson

Silver – Amelia Cass

British National Track Championships – Red Dragons Steal The Show

by Anna Magrath | Mar 7, 2022

The Welsh pair of Ella Barnwell and Josh Tarling delighted the Newport crowd with emphatic victories at the British National Track Championships, as 13 more national champions were crowned on the penultimate day of competition.

Reigning champion Barnwell retained her Women’s Scratch Race title in a close-fought battle, edging out Anna Morris and last night’s Women’s Individual Pursuit champion Neah Evans.

After also winning her qualifier earlier in the day Carmarthenshire’s Barnwell showed great poise to hold off her rivals in the closing stages and secure a fourth senior national title.

“It feels like such an honour because you’ve got a Welsh crowd, so it’s like home winning the stripes here. It’s amazing really.

“My big aim is representing Wales at the Commonwealth Games, hopefully on the track, but it would be great to do road too – I’d like to go for the win for that.”

Ella Barnwell

Despite only turning 18 last month Joshua Tarling rode fearlessly throughout the 120 lap Points Race, building up an early lead by scoring points in the first five sprints. Charlie Tanfield briefly took the lead after lapping the field, but was then lapped himself to quickly restore Tarling to pole position.

In total Tarling scored in eight of the 10 sprints and took a lap on the field on his way to a winning total of 53 points, and try as they might the pair of Oscar Nilsson Julien (39 points) and John Archibald (38 points) found themselves unable to close the deficit.

“I knew it would be fast because there are quite a lot of people on really big gears and there are some big engines here. I was going to ride a little bit of a smaller gear and I just wanted to get the jump, so I thought I’d go early while I was fresh. Luckily I won two sprints and that gave me that lead, then I could sit on for a bit.

“When John went and I was on him, I knew he’s got such a big engine. I was parking it every time, but I just knew I had to stick with him.”

Joshua Tarling

Para-cycling events

Fin Graham made it two national champion’s jerseys in two days with a commanding victory in the Men’s C3 Pursuit, enjoying a victory margin of more than 20 seconds over Ben Hetherington and Henry Urand. This was Hetherington’s first para-cycling race on the track since a serious injury sustained competing in a club 10 time-trial in 2019, and his delight was clear for all to see.

In the C1-2 Matthew Robertson proved too strong for Ryan Taylor and Sam Ruddock to take the title, while in the C4 Martin Hailstone got the better of Nicholas Fairfield. Will Bjergfelt was the winner in the C5, with Blaine Hunt second and David Murphy third.

In the Women’s C1-3 Pursuit Daphne Schrager stormed to victory in a time of 4:05.004, with Amelia Cass second and Katie Toft third. In the C5 classification Morgan Newberry took the gold ahead of Emma Tod.

In the Para-cycling B Pursuit races Chris McDonald (piloted by Chris Latham) took the men’s competition convincingly, with Brad Gauntlett (piloted by Tim May) and Nadeem Mughal (piloted by Alex Cook) completing the podium. In the women’s event Sophie Unwin (piloted by Jenny Holl) set an impressive time of 3:28.828 in a non-national championship race.

Men’s events

Matt Rotherham won an entertaining Men’s 1,000m Time Trial competition, with less than a second between the three podium places. Rotherham set a blistering time of 1:01.008 to sit in pole position ahead of Harvey McNaughton (1:01.919) with just Jonny Wale left to ride.

While Rotherham waited nervously, defending champion Wale fell just under three tenths of a second slower to take the silver.

Team Inspired claimed the top four spots in the Men’s Sprint competition, with Jack Carlin adding a national title to the Olympic bronze he secured in the same event last summer, after beating teammate Joe Truman in straight legs in the final. The imperious Carlin qualified fastest and didn’t lose a single sprint all day en route to victory. In the battle for bronze Hamish Turnbull defeated Hayden Norris.

Women’s events

Ellie Stone was a surprise winner of the Women’s Keirin, riding brilliantly in the final to surge ahead of Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell for a first senior national title.

Stone required the repechages to progress to the semi-final, where she finished third, behind Capewell and last night’s Women’s Sprint winner Rhian Edmunds, but caught the field off-guard in the final and victory never looked in doubt from then on.

In the Women’s Team Pursuit competition, the Brother UK-Orientation Marketing quartet of Ellen Bennett, Grace Lister, Holly Ramsey and Isabel Sharp caught their Liv CC – Halo Films opponents (Katie-Ann Calton, Ella Jamieson, Matilda McKibben and Awen Roberts) in 2:33.850.

Full results from day three can be found here, with more information on the rest of the weekend’s action here. You can also catch up on all of the action on YouTube here.

Chris Maher

Photographer & Writer

Based in the North East of England; photographer Chris Maher specialises in sports photography with his main interests in Cycling and Super Bikes. Chris has covered sports events from local and national level right up to the Olympics for CyclingShorts.cc.
Website: www.ChrisMaher.co.uk

Anna Magrath

Editor & Writer

Anna Magrath founded CyclingShorts.cc in 2008 and invited some of her cycling friends; coaches, photographers, writers and pro cyclists of different disciplines to join her, bringing you all things cycling related.

Over the years Anna has supported grass roots cycling events, riders and teams. Anna has a particular interest in Track, Road, womens cycling, recreational cycling and cycling related art. She has reported from the top cycle races on the world calendar including the Tour de France, Olympics, World Cups & World Championships.

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British National Track Championships – National Record Broken

by Anna Magrath | Mar 5, 2022

Dan Bigham added a sixth national title to his growing collection with victory in the individual pursuit on day one of the British National Track Championships in Newport, after breaking the national record in qualifying earlier in the day.

Returning to the track after his British Hour Record success in October last year, he qualified fastest by more than three and a half seconds over the 4,000m, setting up a gold medal ride against friend and former team-mate Charlie Tanfield. Despite Tanfield shaving a second off his qualifying time, Bigham led throughout in the final to take a commanding victory.

“We’re all good mates and we’ve lived together on and off for the past five years. You want them to do well and I’m glad that they do – seeing Charlie back up that well and knocking out 4:07 is really impressive.

“I’m quite happy with how it’s panned out. Being able to focus on it meant that everything came together really nicely.

“My next race is the national time trial championships in June, and I might sneak in Lincoln. Off the back of that, Commonwealth Games, the Hour Record and world time-trial champs.”

Dan Bigham

Britsih Individual Pursuit Champion

Tokyo silver medallist Neah Evans qualified fastest in the women’s individual pursuit with a time of 3:29.083, setting up a gold medal final against Anna Morris, who qualified second just under a tenth of a second slower, in 3:29.175.

The bronze was taken by Kyle Gordon in 4:14.589, following victory over Michael Gill.

The first medal of the championships was awarded to Lora Fachie, piloted by Georgia Holt, as the pair began their new partnership in style with victory in the women’s tandem sprint in straight rounds. A gold medallist at the Rio and Tokyo Paralympic Games in the individual pursuit, this was a rare foray into the world of sprinting for Fachie, and the pair go again in the kilo on Sunday. Nia Holt and Amy Cole took the silver.

“I’m not known for my sprinting ability so yeah, it was good. It’s nice when you keep it a bit fresh and try new things.

“There’s always the buzz of winning, you know, that’s why we do it, and any race is the same. I think the day you don’t get a buzz is the day that it’s time to retire.”

Lora Fachie

Britsih Individual Pursuit Champion

Evans however still had more in the tank, and shaved off another half of a second to take the national title with a time of 3:28.470, having led Morris throughout. In the battle for bronze, Kate Richardson edged out Sophie Lankford with a time of 3:35.566.

Double Tokyo silver medallist Fin Graham won an entertaining Paracycling Mixed Scratch Race, with a blistering final lap proving too much for Will Bjergfelt in second and Martin Hailstone in third. Graham will look to make it a double tomorrow in the Men’s C1-5 Individual Pursuit.

The Team Inspired quartet of Jack Carlin, Ali Fielding, Joe Truman and Hamish Turnbull took a commanding victory in the Men’s Team Sprint, first qualifying fastest in 43.738 and then catching their opponents SES Racing en route to victory in the semi-final with a time of 44.342.

Team East Midlands (James Bunting, Marcus Hiley, Harry Ledingham Horn and Hayden Norris) were their opponents in the final, but were unable to stop Team Inspired, who took the victory by just over a second. Glasgow Track RCA took bronze with victory over Enhanced.

The final national champion’s jersey of the night went to Rhian Edmunds of Wales Racing Academy, who battled to a thrilling victory over defending champion Sophie Capewell in a deciding leg.

Having defeated both Milly Tanner in the 1/8 final and Lowri Thomas in the semi-finals in straight legs, she then took a 1-0 lead over Capewell in the final. However, Team Sprint world championships bronze medallist Capewell battled back in the second to even things up and set up a decider in the final race of the day.

With a home crowd behind her Edmunds dug deep to take the victory, before a victory lap draped in the red dragon.