York Cycle Challenge: Around the world in 21 days by bicycle

 
Issued by City of York Council

Hundreds of workers from York have cycled over 126,856 miles in the York Cycle Challenge – the equivalent of cycling more than five times around the world.

More than 1,000 York workers took part in the three-week competition (between 1 and 21 July) aimed at introducing as many new people to cycling as possible. In total more than 14,830 journeys were recorded and 1,708 people from 71 organisations competed to clock up the greatest percentage of staff taking part.

The challenge successfully encouraged hundreds of people to take to their bikes and discover the joys and benefits of cycling while doing their bit to help with easing congestion and pollution within the county.

Participants logged their cycling trips online and a variety of prizes were on offer to individuals and teams, from a break in the Lake District to a £1,000 bike from CycleStreet, won by Sara Stiles from Aviva.

There were 200 City Screen cinema tickets awarded to those riding for the first time in over a year and to those who encouraged them to get back on a bike for the challenge.

The winning teams are:
500+ size category – Shepherd Group Industrial Division
200 – 499 size category – Biology – University of York
50 – 199 size category – Portakabin Sales – Shepherd Group Industrial Division
20 – 49 size category – HandA
7 – 19 size category – Admin/Service – Logopak International Ltd
3 – 6 size category – Finance – York CVS

Cllr Dave Merrett, Cabinet Member for Transport, Planning and Sustainability, said: “This is another great response from businesses across the city, with hundreds of cyclists taking part and clocking up over 120,000 miles in the York Cycle Challenge.

“With the Tour de France just around the corner, many more people are taking up the sport of cycling but just as importantly, this initiative shows that getting to and from work by bike can also be a great way to stay healthy, as well as helping to reduce congestion.

“This initiative reinforces York’s position was one of the top cycling cities in the country”.

There are lots of other winners – all results and prizes winners are published on the York Cycle Challenge website.

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