WOW!! What a month!! This months newsletter edition is our biggest edition yet!! National Bike Week takes place in June of each year and this month everyone really got on board to celebrate the art of cycling. It will be difficult to summarize all of the events but we hope these updates will give you an insight to the amazing month experienced by the schools travel team.
National Bike Week 2014
Bike Week is a celebration and promotion of all that's great about bikes and cycling. Held over a week in June of each year with bike themed events organised by local authorities, community groups and cycling groups throughout Ireland. In Limerick, the Limerick Smarter Travel team coordinates Limericks 'BeSpoke' cycling festival as part of this week where a wide variety of events are put in place such as bike parades, bike fixing, bike expos etc. Bike Week 2014 was a particularly busy week for the schools programme where
- Over 600 students from city schools participated in National Cycle to School Day /National COW day. This was the highest result ever recorded for the city area.
- Over 350 students took part in cycle action days organised ahead of and during National Bike Week. These events involved introductions to bike maintenance, bike safety, followed by relays which focused on balance and coordination skills in the school yard.
- St. Patricks BNS won the Garda Cycling Challenge in UL.
- Schools across the city were invited to enter two cycle themed competitions organised specifically for National Bike Week. These included the ‘Golden Bike’ Award (which was won by St. Brigids NS who had an average of 100 cyclists for each day of National Bike Week) and the newly introduced ‘Miniature Bicycle’ competition which saw over 50 entries from across the city.
- Entries from the ‘Miniature Bicycle’ competition also formed part of an exhibition of school work on Game in Cruises St., Limerick city which was on display throughout bike week.
- Two major school hub bike repair events were held during the week (Castletroy, Southill)
- St. Brigids National School piloted an 'in-school bike bonanza' where over 150 bicycles were seen to by local bike shop mechanics and volunteers. This event has formed the template for future school specific bike repair events.
- Over 20 pre-school students participated in a pilot pre-schools cycling event.
- Over 50 students (with their parents) participated in the pilot of a ‘Junior Pedal in the Park initiative
- Limerick Smarter Travel launched its first Riverside Family Cycle on Sunday 22nd June 2014 where over 1000 participated.
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| St. Michaels Infant School Pedal in the Park 2014 |
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| Staff & Parents from Monaleen NS really got involved this year where over 160 cycled on National COW day 2014 |
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| St. Patricks BNS won the Garda Cycling Challenge in UL |
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| Launch of our first Miniature Bicycle Competition in partnership with Limerick City & Council Environment Section |
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Miniature Bike entries also formed part of an exhibition on Cruises Street held during bike week. E. O Sullivan (LST) & Dr. T. O Dwyer (UL) had a busy morning judging entries.
Other Travel News
Limerick Smarter Travel Online Resource Library makes it to the International Top TEN!!
We are excited to announce that our online resource library made it to the international Top Ten Livebinder listing following review from external judges. This resource was designed to support schools in the integration of sustainable travel goals with the current curriculum and contains all of the top travel websites for schools. We are thrilled!! Click here for access to this resource.
For further information on the schools programme please visit our website www.limericksmartertravel.ie .
Regular updates relating to the project are provided via Twitter : @lksmartertravel or @gstravellimerick  |
