Cycling Awards on a Roll with Julie Anne Genter

Cycling Awards on a Roll with Julie Anne Genter

Minister for Women and Associate Minister for Transport and Health, the Hon Julie Anne Genter will be joining keen Wellingtonians for a ride around the waterfront on Tuesday evening to celebrate the growing range of cycling initiatives around the region. 13 Awards being presented, and the cycle parade starts at Bicycle Junction at 6.35am then rolls around the waterfront, where awards will be presented on route!!! Finalists include businesses who encourage staff to cycle to work, as well as the many committed individuals and organisations who help build bike tracks, teach people to ride, refurbish old bikes and run events to encourage beginners.

Cycling in all its forms is growing fast worldwide and Wellington Region is no exception, with cycling being the second most popular recreational activity in the region after walking. In particular the numbers of women who cycle regularly is growing, and thanks to groups like FROCKS on Bikes and Revolve Cycling, and events such as the Kapiti Women’s Tri, hundreds more women are now using bikes to get around or simply have fun on the tracks. Recently Revolve volunteers helped 8o Wellington refugee women get confident on bikes, many of whom had never ridden before.

The Kapiti Womens Tri –celebrated its 35th anniversary in March– and was one of the first women only triathlons in New Zealand. The founder Jan Nesbit estimates over 10,500 women have taken up cycling as a result.

Meanwhile businesses are discovering than staff who cycle to work arrive less stressed and more energised than those who commute by car or public transport. Hence Wellington companies such as ANZ, GNS and Intergen are increasingly providing indoor secure bike storage, showers and drying rooms for staff who cycle.

To make sure there is no shortage of wheels, groups in Kapiti, Wellington and Upper Hutt refurbish bikes to provide good quality second hand cycles to people in the local community who wouldn’t otherwise have one. In Upper Hutt the City Council’s Activation Team have partnered with the Department of Corrections Rimutaka, and the Upper Hutt Cycle Centre to collect donated bikes, restore them and re-distribute them to local families. The project started in August 2016 and so far more than 300 bikes have been donated, stripped, serviced and spruced up by prisoners in a bike workshop in Rimutaka Prison.

The event finishes back at Bicycle Junction at 7.45pm.

The Awards are organised by Cycle Aware Wellington and are an annual event.

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