Pupils at seven Plymouth primary schools have been treated to spectacular displays of bike stunts and tricks from one of Fusion Extreme’s star riders as a reward for being the local winners and runners-up in this year’s Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel challenge.
The 10-day challenge, held at the end of March, saw pupils, staff and parents at 33 Plymouth schools compete to see who could log the most journeys to school by walking, wheeling, cycling and scooting.
Between them, Plymouth schools logged over 43,000 active journeys – with 2.6 million logged by nearly 2,800 schools that took part in the challenge across the UK.
The local winners in the large primary schools category were Woodford Primary, with an incredible 82 per cent of children travelling actively to school every day of the challenge, followed by Compton CofE Primary and Stoke Damerel Primary.
Yealmpstone Farm Primary won the small primary schools category, with 80 per cent traveling actively every day, followed by St Peter’s CE Primary, Hooe Primary and St George’s CofE Primary in the runner-up positions.
Plymouth’s Sustrans schools officers and extreme sports show specialists Fusion Extreme put on a mini-tour around the winning schools, featuring Matty Turner, one of the UK’s top street trials riders. He showed pupils and teachers what is possible on a bike with dedication and hard work, including his signature trick of a front flip on a bike over an exercise ball, which earned him a Guinness World Record in 2021.
Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “This is a fantastic result for Plymouth’s schools once again – their outstanding efforts and the fact that more schools than ever took part in this year’s Big Walk and Wheel challenge show that our city’s children, parents and teachers can work together to help tackle air pollution and carbon emissions.
“The Council is proud to work with Sustrans to deliver events like the Big Walk and Wheel and support schools in promoting active travel. Our continued investment in public transport, walking and cycling is enabling more people to make healthy and environmentally friendly travel choices.”
During the Big Walk and Wheel, children and young people at Plymouth schools walked, cycled, scooted and wheeled over 69,000 miles in just under 8,000 hours of physical activity. If all these active journeys had been made by petrol or diesel car, they would have generated nearly 38,000kg of carbon dioxide and 57kg of nitrogen oxides.