A Harrogate mum is campaigning for one of the town's proposed new cycling routes to be named in her son's honour.

Mike Hall was an internationally renowned endurance cyclist who won the inaugural World Cycle Race in 2012.

In 2013 and 2016 he won the Tour Divide and in 2014 he also won the inaugural Trans Am Bike Race.

But Mike, who was born in Harrogate and went to Saltergate Junior School and St Aidan's Church of England High School, died during a race in 2017 when he was hit by a car in Australia. He was 35.

Although he was well known in cycling circles around the world, his mum Pat Hall wants more people in Harrogate to recognise his name.

With North Yorkshire County Council planning to build several new cycling routes in Harrogate, Pat feels like the time is right for her son to get some recognition.

She told the Stray Ferret:

Work on the delayed Otley Road cycle route is due to begin in October.

North Yorkshire County Council has also secured funding for cycling improvements on the A59 Harrogate Road in Knaresborough, between Badger Mount and Maple Close, and on Victoria Avenue in Harrogate between the A61 and Station Parade.

The county council also revealed last week that it plans to bid for funding for a cycleway linking Knaresborough and Flaxby Park as well as well another scheme to the west of Ripon.

There is a precedent for naming a cycleway after a local international rider.

The Beryl Burton cycle way, which connects Knaresborough and Harrogate, is named after after seven-time world champion cyclist Beryl Burton who raced for Knaresborough Cycling Club. She died in 1996.

Pat Hall is not alone in her view. When she first aired the idea last year it led to hundreds of emails to the county council.

Cllr Don Mackenzie could not confirm if it had any plans to name a cycle route after Mike Hall but told the Stray Ferret that it had received hundreds of endorsements for him.