Superfast Action at Cadwell Park

News release

27th August 2013

Onlincolnshire has given fans a behind-the-scenes look into the world of superbike racing at Cadwell Park in Louth over the Bank Holiday weekend, interviewing top riders, live blogging and tweeting, and taking photographs from around the venue.

Tweets using the #BSBwired hashtag, which was created by the Lincolnshire County Council-run team, reached more than 64,000 twitter accounts. The hashtag got so much traction online that Honda’s headline sponsor Samsung took notice and sent their social media experts out to meet the team from onlincolnshire.

Nearly 100 fans also viewed more than 100 photos taken and shared on the onlincolnshire Flickr site, while posts about the event on Facebook reached 776 people, with 95 people choosing to click on posted status updates for more information.

The Facebook page also got 35 new likes as a result of the online conversations.

In addition to live reporting all the action from the trackside, the onlincolnshire team managed to get interviews with Double British Superbike Championship winner, Lincoln racer Alex Lowes, who was riding for the Louth-based Samsung Honda team, and Boston-born Ben Wilson.

During the interviews, which can be viewed on the onlincolnshire YouTube channel, Alex and Ben were both keen to take up the cause for better broadband explaining how they use superfast broadband to stay in touch with fans and team members.

Councillor Colin Davie, Executive Member for Economic Development at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “This was a great event for us to attend. Because there are so many fans of the sport, it gave us a chance to engage with thousands of people, both spreading the word about the importance of superfast broadband and keeping fans up to date with what was happening at the event.

“We’re delighted with the interaction we got through social media – it just proves that the internet is a very powerful way to engage with people.”

Thousands of people attended the race day yesterday, with thousands travelling from across the UK and further afield. As well as racing teams taking their turn round the track, there were motorcycle display teams, trade stands, a fun fair and a children’s area for families visiting the race.

The race was ‘wired’ by onlincolnshire as part of a series of events aimed at demonstrating the capabilities of digital technology.

The onlincolnshire project announced in March that it is working with BT to improve infrastructure in the county so that at least 88% of all properties should have access to superfast broadband by April 2016, with the council aiming for everyone else to have access to at least of 2Mb/s broadband.

All of the activity was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Find the videos online at www.youtube.com/user/OnlineRevolutionLinc

Ends

Notes to Editors:

About onlincolnshire

• Onlincolnshire is part of Lincolnshire County Council, working with partner organisations to promote good connections between people, services, communities and places. It is part-funded by the East Midlands European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. More information can be found at www.onlincolnshire.org.
• Some Internet users in rural Lincolnshire experience speeds of less than 1 Mbps. The UK’s average broadband speed is 7.6 Mbps, according to Ofcom.
• The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf
• The contract with BT concentrates on an intervention area of over 150,000 premises where existing or planned commercial roll outs would not deliver superfast speeds. This will mean that at least 94% of all premises should have access to fibre broadband by April 2016.

Cerri Delaney
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
07985 143990
cerri@shootingstar-pr.co.uk
www.shootingstar-pr.co.uk
t: @CerriDelaney

Tags: