Sir Chris Hoy will officially open the newly refurbished Scapa Flow Museum in Orkney this weekend.
Nicknamed Hoy on Hoy, the trip will include several events to dually celebrate Orkney’s history and Hoy’s Olympic legacy.
Over an impressive career, Sir Chris won six gold medals and one silver medal, becoming the second most decorated Olympic cyclist of all time.
While in Orkney, he will officially reopen the Scapa Flow Museum, which has undergone a £4.4 million renovation.
The museum tells the story of the Island of Hoy’s transformation from a peaceful island community to the nerve centre of the Royal Navy during the world wars.
The event was due to go ahead when the museum reopened last year but was postponed due to the Queen’s death.
In a nod to Sir Chris’s cycling career, during a tour of the museum, officials will convey the importance of bikes to military history and life at the Naval Base on Hoy.
‘Delighted to have Sir Chris Hoy on Hoy’
He will participate in a fun bike circuit with islanders on Saturday and also present Bikeability certificates to pupils from North Walls Community School.
The visit to Orkney is also to promote cycling across Scotland ahead of the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow this August.
To celebrate this, Orkney Cycling Club members plan to cycle 14 miles from Lyness in the south of Hoy to Moaness in the north.
Orkney Council leader James Stockan, said: “I know the local community will be so proud to show Sir Chris the jewels of their island – among them the new Scapa Flow Museum, one of many beating hearts of Hoy and a bridge from a rich past to an equally vibrant future.
“We’re delighted to have Sir Chris Hoy on Hoy, to help us formally open this fantastic facility, and to celebrate with us his legacy and witness for himself the wonderful landscape of Hoy.”
Conversation