Gdansk wins for the second time in a row the 2016 edition of the European Cycling Challenge, but Polis’ member cities are right behind

The 4th edition of the European Cycling Challenge just ended on May 31st and we have received firsthand insights into the competition and results directly from the ECC Project Manager Ing. Marco Amadori of SRM Bologna.

What has started off as a small initiative launched by the city of Bologna, Italy, in 2013 thanks to the CIVITAS MIMOSA initiative, has now become an annual appointment much awaited by thousands of commuters in Europe who are eager to get in their saddles and cover as many Km they can by bicycle with the aim to win this breathless contest.

This year’s edition was won again by Gdansk: The Polish capital recorder an impressive 825.550 Km.

Polis' members participating

Numerous Polis members have taken part in the challenge, they are Bologna and Rome (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Dublin and Limerick (Ireland), Glasgow (U.K.), Jerusalem (Israel), Lille Métropole and Nantes Métropole (France), Oerebro (Sweden).

It goes without saying that a huge applause goes to all our member cities and regions which have participated in the challenge and contributed to promote cycling as an active, sustainable, healthy, clean daily transport mode. BRAVO!

• 4th position: Rome had declared at the start of the challenge that they wanted to achieve 200.000 Km, 15% more than what they reached in 2015. Actually thery cycled in total 205.240 Km. The goal was achieved!
• 7th position: Lille Métropole is a safe bet: Not only have they increased the total Km cycled, but the recorded 147.534 Km…doubling the figures of the previous year. Impressive!
• 12th position: Nantes, host city of the Velo-city cycling conference in 2015, recorder last year 16.000 km. But this year they achieved 110.258 km. Congratulations!
• 13th position: Dublin had subscribed to the ECC because they wanted to give a new twist to their existing BikeToWork campaign which has been running already or a few years. They recorded 108.515 Km. Not bad for a first ECC edition! "We have had a very fruitful cooperation with the campaign coordinator Sinead Flavin of the National Transport Authority" said Marco Amadori, "she was very dynamic and enthusiast."
• 18th position: Great numbers are coming from Glasgow. Despite the small city surface (Km cycled are registered only within the city’s limit) and bad weather (the coordinator said that it’s rained very often), Glasgow reached nearly 72.000 Km. Not bad! They have produced very nice promotional material, see the images below.
• 22nd position: Another special mention goes to Oerebro: Last year they cycled 8.700 Km, this year they recorded nearly 43.800 Km. The numbers speak for themselves!
• 26th position: Budapest has had a slow start. They recorded “only” 38.000 Km however they’ve had a very good progression in the second half of the month. “If the campaign had started earlier, I’m sure they would have reached better results” says Marco. “We’ll see next year”.
• 34th position: Barcelona has not registered staggering figures. Nonetheless they have done better this year then in the past with 16.107 Km cycled.
• 46th position: Limerick has registered lower figures (3.796 km), but they are smaller and still growing. :-)
• 49th position: New entry Jerusalem has started the campaign on May 20 linking it to a local cycling event, too late. But they can do certaily better next year!
• Last but not least, Bologna settles into the 10th position with 119.337 Km.

More information

For more information, please visit the ECC website: www.cyclingchallenge.eu