Get more young people cycling to school, says Sustrans

The initiative, which will take place around the Sustrans Big Pedal 2018, is aiming to get more young people cycling to school. Running from Monday, April 23 to Friday, May 4, the challenge set out by Baumont is to get as many parents and teachers to leave their cars at home and instead use bikes as their primary means of transport.

During the ten days, participating primary and secondary schools will compete with one another to make the most journeys by bike or scooter.

After 18,000 miles on the road last summer, covering 240 miles a day and taking in 16 countries, Beaumont smashed the previous record by 44 days. He told Sustrans: “I’m delighted to be supporting the Big Pedal 2018. It’s a great initiative for getting more young people on their bikes and scooters, building their confidence and independence in a fun and engaging way.

“Encouraging young people to cycle and scoot from an early age not only boosts physical and mental health, it also helps build good habits for independent and active travel into teenage and adult life. I hope as many schools as possible will take part in this year’s ‘Around the World in ten days’ Sustrans’ Big Pedal challenge.”

Sustrans CEO Xavier Brice added: “At 1.6 miles, the average primary school journey is a distance that can be walked, scooted or cycled as an easy way of building more physical activity into our busy lives.

“As well as being fun, Big Pedal can help kick-start entire families into leading more active lives, while reducing congestion and air pollution around the school gates.

Last year nearly 1,700 schools registered to take part, travelling almost three million miles – nearly 119 trips around the world – and saving almost 728 tonnes of CO2 being emitted by cars.

With more than 75,000 gallons of fuel not being used on the school run, parents also saved over £400,000 on fuel.