Limerick students pedal a smarter way to travel
Issued 11th November 2014
A group of Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT)students this week narrowly missed out on claiming the top prize in a competition recognising third level campuses that go the extra mile to promote sustainabletravel.
Limerick Smarter Travel hosted the National Transport Authority's prize giving event for Limerick entrants to the Student Cycling Challenge on Wednesday (26th November).
The aim of the Challenge, whichis open to all campuses who are partners of the Smarter Travel Campus Programme, an initiative of the National Transport Authority, is to clock up as many cycle trips as possible over the ten-day challenge.
LIT's Biotech Team came in second position in the national event having clocked up 371 trips, narrowly missing out on first position by eight trips to UCD’s Victorious Vets.
There was further success for Limerick entries however, with Ciara Meikle from University of Limerickwinning the Best New Cyclist Story Category. Ciara, referring to herself as "a born-again cyclist", wrote about how the Student Cycling Challenge helped her to rediscover her love for cycling.
University of Limerick also won Best Campus Award for the highest weighting of trips across all students participating from their campus. Meanwhile, Limerick Smarter Travel Coordinators, Ross Higgins and Sean Collins won the Best Campus Implementation Team Award in recognition of their promotional work and efforts to motivateUL students to get involved in the Challenge.
Commenting on the Smarter Travel Campus Student Cycling Challenge, Pat O'Neill, Project Manager, Limerick Smarter Travel said: "Limerick Smarter Travel is continually looking at new and innovative ways of encouraging commuters and residents of Limerick City to consider alternative methods of transport. The Student Cycling Challenge is an excellent initiative as it encourages students to consider using their bikes when travelling to and from college as well as during their day-to-day lives."
Limerick Smarter Travel, co-funded by the ERDF and DTTAS, is in its third year and won the 2014 National Chamber Excellence in Local Government Award for Smarter Travel.
Other Student Cycling Challenge winners:
•Social media prize draw: Sofie Dragsted, Awesome Wheels UL
•Best team member runners up: Eadaoin Slattery, University of Limerick
•Best team member runners up: Kieran Ralph, University of Limerick
•Photo comp runners up: SLTS2B, University of Limerick (captain: Hannah Pfaff)
•Photo comp runners up: Pedal Pushers, University of Limerick (captain: Eoin O’Callaghan)
•Photo comp runners up: PDT Team UL, University of Limerick (captain: Stephen Johnson)
•Random draw spot prize: Jessica's Tripple Tits, Mary Immaculate College
•Best team captain runner up: Stephen Johnson, University of Limerick
•Photo comp runners up: UL’s Holy Rollers, University of Limerick (captain: Josh O’Regan)
•Runners up for new cyclist story competition: Josh O'Regan, UL, University of Limerick
•Photo comp runners up: Full Pedal Jacket UL, University of Limerick (captain: James Poole)
•Social media prize draw: Kevin Dunne, PDT, University of Limerick
•The following teams were also awarded spot prize for being in the top 20 teams on the final leaderboard: The Blackberries UL (captain: George Laskos) and Windmill Swag UL, University of Limerick (captain: Adrian Kelly)
For further information on the Smarter Travel Campus Student Cycle Challenge visit
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