🇪🇺 Sad: kids-tour cancellation. No funding
- Hans-Günter Päske
- May 23, 2024
- 5 min read
Two things don't come back in life: time and a missed opportunity. We are so sorry! After 2023, the kids won't be able to emulate their Tour de France role models in 2024 either. It seems that political and economic interests are being played out on the back of sport. An analysis of the International kids-tour 2024. And no, we're not giving up: 2025 - see you again.
Board decision
The Wheel Divas e.V. Board had to make the following decision:
The International kids-tour Berlin 2024 will not take place.
Preparatory work will be cancelled with immediate effect. Suitable information is to be provided and a newsletter published if necessary.
In 09/24, new applications for funding must be submitted for the 29th International kids-tour 2025. We will try to intervene legally, subject to the budget situation. In addition, further and alternative sponsors must be acquired. The 3 stages planned in Berlin are still to be favoured.
Sina Päske Hans-Günter Päske Angelica Sippach
1. CEO 2. CEO Finance Chief
Reasons for the cancellation of the kids-tour 2024
The decision had to be made to protect the club. Risks must be averted. This would have affected the national cycling league team and the Oderrundfahrt Women's Race, among others.
The decision by the state of Berlin, which provides the funding, does not stand up to legal scrutiny. Children must be granted the same rights as adults. Only a complaint to the administrative court would bring clarity. There is no budget available for this. The association had to decide to the detriment of the children not to take action against the decision. The Berlin Cycling Federation does not support this decision.
Wheel Divas are the youngest, smallest and most successful cycling club in Berlin. Neither our 2024 budget nor additional sponsors leave room for replacement measures and additional operating expenses. No sponsorship means no sport.
Calculated event costs are reasonable, a reduction is not possible. For comparison: The costs for 5 children's stages, 4 days of the kids-tour are just as high as the one-day race Tour de Berlin Feminin.
Further details
Only adults, mainly men and above all ball sports, benefit from the big money. Is everyone equal before the law? In any case, there are no age restrictions in the guidelines and laws. So everyone is entitled to benefits. Everyone means, at least not the children?
2022 and 2023, the association is responding to the Senate's demand to bring the kids tour stages back to Berlin step by step. According to Senator Iris Spranger, knowing the majority in Berlin would be a basic prerequisite for funding. Approval for 3 of the 5 Berlin stages will follow in 2023. Nevertheless, the administration decides against the children. It remains unclear why the senator was unable to get her way.
Outdoor events are at a disadvantage. While every sports facility is available free of charge, triathlons, motor sports and cycling have to pay for the road. Cycling races fail to convert this public space into a sports area. So while the hall is paid for, cycling is left with the traffic safety costs or the event is cancelled. Applications for traffic safety, diversions etc. take up to a year. They cost a fortune. An application for the use of a hall costs an email. A sense of perspective and expertise in the distribution of grants would help to eliminate this unequal treatment.
The UEFA European Football Championship 2024 will cost the state of Berlin 80 million euros. There will be no money left for the only remaining traditional cycling event, the kids-tour.
The funding body is the Senate Department for the Interior, Digitisation and Sport. Its Sports Department - IV C 2 - Sports Location Marketing / Event Funding monitors and manages the funding programme. All sports submit their applications for funding in September of each year. Whether, which and why events receive money remains a secret. The vote of the association is also decisive. What this looks like can be surmised.
The guidelines for the promotion of national and international sporting events in Berlin (SFR V) and the law on the promotion of sport in the state of Berlin (SportFG) form the basis.
Rejection notice kids-tour Berlin 2024
The cancellation comes in writing without a hearing. It is objectionable both in terms of content and legally. The reasons:
‘The budget allocation in 2024 for event funding has been fully earmarked for supporting other sporting events, including three cycling events in Berlin.’ Cycling funding is long overdue. It is an Olympic sport. One of the few that still produces medals. Funding 3 events is good, but excluding the only traditional event raises questions. We object to the fact that 100 women in the Tour de Berlin Feminin have more rights than 200 children? We criticise the fact that the demonstrably greater reach of a kids' tour is worth less than a UCI race. Because nothing is more sustainable than children.
"The ... measure is an event exclusively in the children's junior sector. ..... The promotion of children's events is not part of the SFR V." This statement is incorrect. An age limit is not part of the law.
"Organising the event outside Berlin is .... in contradiction to the ... Sports Funding Guidelines .... " The statement is incorrect. The administration fails to recognise the agreements with the senator. It has been agreed with the senator that the ‘majority of the stages will take place in Berlin’. 3 out of 5 stages will take place in Berlin.
Thoughts
Two things don't come back in life: time and a missed opportunity. Depriving children of the European showpiece race is morally indefensible. And it's not because of money. If this country has anything, it is money. It's just the distribution that needs to be questioned.
The numbers of young cyclists are declining dramatically. All the more reason why junior cycling races should be there to inspire children and young people for this sport and give them a sense of community and achievement. In Berlin, such an event seems to have become a plaything of political and economic interests - sporting goals and the interests of the young participants have taken a back seat.
The traditional ‘International Kids Tour’ event was held in Berlin for the first time in 1993. The three-day, four-stage race for children up to U15, i.e. a maximum age of 14, was held annually at the end of August up to and including 2019. Many Tour de France riders started there. Including well-known cycling greats such as John Degenkolb, Tadej Pogacar, Maximilian Schachmann and Rick Zabel.
The organising team would like to thank everyone who tries every day to make this world a little better for our kids and to make the kids-tour an experience for our little racers once again.
Brands of Wheel Divas e.V.
Berlin women's cycling | Wheel Divas Cycling Team
Berlin junior cycling | Wheel Devils Cycling Team
kids-tour Berlin.
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