PARKS chiefs have urged cyclists’ favourite time-tracking app Strava to delete the Outer Circle segment following outcry over death of an elderly woman.

The Royal Parks charity said that it had written to Strava asking it to remove the 4km stretch around Regent’s Park.

It follows a furious reaction to an inquest into the death of Hilda Griffiths, 81, following a collision at the junction with Hanover Terrace.

Royal Parks said: “We have made contact and will follow up with cycling apps such as Strava to request removal of the Outer Circle in the Regent’s Park as a segment on the app.”

Strava logs cyclist times and publishes them in a league table-style set up.

The concerns are that it encourages cyclists to push themselves to race as fast as possible around the public road.

Cyclist groups have repeatedly told the Extra that they exercise restraint when cycling around the park and are training rather than racing.

Adrian Jackson, deputy chair of Regent’s Park Cyclists group (RPC), said last week, “we are training, not racing”, and added: “There is a lot of chat about how badly behaved the cyclists are. But in recent years the red light-jumping has stopped and if clubs were misbehaving we would know about it; they would be called out. We feel it is an honour and privilege to ride in the park.”

The Outer Circle is one of the most popular places to cycle in central London, with more than 62,000 people completing the segment each year.

But the Extra reported last week how Ms Griffiths, 81, died following a collision with cyclist Brian Fitzgerald in June 2022.

No prosecution was brought and a coroner heard how speed limits are not applied to cyclists. The inquest ruled an “accidental cycling collision death”.

The fastest ever public completion of the “Regent’s Park CCW segment”, which is 4.4km long, was 4:49 in September last year, which means it was done at a speed of 54.8km/h, or 34mph.

The Crown Estates Paving Commission said last week: “We have produced draft proposals which aim to improve pedestrian safety on the Outer Circle and are in discussion with The Royal Parks over them. We are aware this is a complex issue due to the different stakeholders that need to be involved in decisions that affect a lot of people.”

A Strava statement said: “Safety of our active community and those around them is a priority, and we have community standards that note that ‘sports happen in dynamic environments that we share with motorists, pedestrians, other people, equestrians, pets and wildlife’. The behaviours related to this incident violate Strava’s community standards.

“We received a request from Royal Parks to discuss the cycling route segment where the incident occurred. The ability to flag a cycling route segment as hazardous already exists in Strava. If segments are flagged as hazardous, achievements are not awarded for that segment and leaderboards are disabled.”