Michael Brian Cookson
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(born 22 June 1951) is the former president of the
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), having been elected to the post in September 2013 at the
2013 UCI Road World Championships
The 2013 UCI Road World Championships took place in Tuscany, Italy, between 22 and 29 September 2013.
The Championships consisted of 12 events for elite, under-23 and junior cyclists. It was the 86th Road World Championships, the 13th in Italy a ...
.
Cookson previously served as president of
British Cycling from 1997 to 2013, after becoming a member of an emergency committee to rescue it from insolvency in 1996. He has been credited with turning the sport around since taking on his unpaid role as president and under his presidency, British cyclists have won 19 Olympic gold medals, 28 Paralympic Gold medals, the
Tour de France five times, and multiple World Championship titles in disciplines of Road, Track and BMX.
Personal life
Graduating in 1973, Cookson retired in March 2013 from his mainstream career, where he was employed by
Pendle Borough Council as Executive Director (Regeneration) having gained wide experience in strategic management of multi-facetted organisations, and of managing teams of staff engaged in major programmes of urban regeneration and renewal.
Cookson is married to Sian, has three children and lives in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire.
Administration career
Administratively, Cookson has held the following offices; Division Road Race Secretary, 1981–5; Division Vice Chairman 1984–7; Division Chairman 1993–7; BCF Racing and Executive Committees 1984–93; BCF Executive Committee/Board 1996–present. He has represented cycling at the
British Olympic Association since 1996.
Cookson qualified as a UCI International
Commissaire (i.e. judge/referee) in 1986, working on events such as the
Tour of Britain, the
Milk Race
The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time.
The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the ...
, the Warsaw-Berlin-Prague
Peace Race and stage races in Australia, South Africa, Germany, Spain, France. Brian has also been involved in World Championships in France, Great Britain, Switzerland, and the
Barcelona Olympic Games.
Internationally, he was elected to the UCI Management Committee in 2009, and was appointed as President of the UCI Cyclo-Cross Commission from 2009 to 2011, then President of the UCI Road Commission from 2011 to present.
Cookson made a statement following the doping scandals of the
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 to 29 July. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain. It was ...
, urging the organisers not to give up the fight for a clean sport.
Cookson announced on 4 June 2013 that he would be running for election as President of the
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) – the international federation for the sport of cycling. Cookson was elected at the annual Congress in Florence, Italy, on 27 September 2013.
Involvement in the sport of cycling
As a competitor, Cookson competed in
road racing
Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...
,
track
Track or Tracks may refer to:
Routes or imprints
* Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity
* Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across
* Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...
,
cyclo-cross and
MTB. The high point of his competitive career was winning the Lakeland Division Road Race championship in 1971.
More recently he has completed a number of
sportive events, including
l'Etape du Tour, the
Fred Whitton Challenge
The Fred Whitton Challenge is a charity cyclosportive event held annually in the English Lake District, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, Cumbria's air ambulances, the mountain rescue service and various youth cycling projects. It is held in me ...
and the Ride with Brad. He completed the Pyrenees Coast to Coast ride in 2011, and competed in the National Masters Track and Road Championships in 2012.
As an official, Cookson has organised or chaired the organising committee of events continuously since 1969, from club level to
Premier Calendar
The British Cycling Premier Calendar Road Race Series is a season-long competition run by British Cycling. It comprises a series of road bicycle races for the country's top domestic road riders.
Organisation and events
In 2010 points were awar ...
. In 2010, for example, he chaired the Pendle Cycle Fest, which included the National Road Championships, the Colne GP circuit race, the Pendle Pedal sportive, and a summer-long programme of Sky Local rides for families.
Honour
Cookson was awarded the
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in the 2008
New Year's Honours List for services to cycling, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the
University of Central Lancashire
, mottoeng = "From the Earth to the Sun"
, established = as Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledgere-established 1992 (University status granted)
, type = Public
, chancellor ...
in 2009.
He was elected a member of the British Olympic Association's executive committee for a third term in October 2005, and again re-elected in November 2007.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cookson, Brian
English male cyclists
Living people
People from Ribble Valley (district)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Presidents of UCI
1951 births
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Sportspeople from Lancashire