Cyclists pedal their way to 110,000 miles

York Council launched the free cycle competition in the hope of getting more of the city’s workforce to opt to use a bicycle on their daily commute instead of a car.

A total of 1,524 people from 65 organisations took part in the three-week contest to find the workplaces with the greatest percentage of staff taking part. More than 16,500 journeys totalling 109,547 miles were recorded – the equivalent of cycling over four times around the world.

Among the firms which signed up were Aviva, CPP, Nestle UK and the Shepherd Group as well as York University and the York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

One of the participants was Andy Leak, who works for the Environment Agency and had not cycled for nearly 30 years.

He said “Getting back on a bike for the first time since 1984 was a weird but fantastic experience for me. The York Cycle Challenge has encouraged me to think about cycling again which would be really beneficial to my health.”