Midleton student wins award for cycling advocacy

Midleton College student Alannah Berkeley was honoured at the inaugural #andshecycles Ambassador Awards in Dublin on Thursday.

The award ceremony celebrated 23 students from nine secondary schools who trained as #andshecycles Ambassadors in the 2020/2021 academic year.

Alannah was involved in getting cycle parking for her school and in the Instagram account created by this year’s ambassador group. Alannah has also been involved in speaking about the gender gap in cycling from very early on in the campaign.

The #andshecycles Ambassador Programme began in early 2021 with three objectives for participants including the development of role models and shaping the cycle-friendliness of their school.

Speaking at the Awards, researcher Robert Egan presented the findings of Green-Schools’ research into the uptake of cycling among young women, which explored the experiences and perceptions of cycling among teenage girls and boys in Ireland.

In Ireland, the number of girls who cycle to school remains low, with only one girl in every 250 students using a bike as their primary mode of transport to school. Through focus groups conducted with boys and girls in 2020 and 2021 students explored their experiences with cycling.

In seeking to understand why teen girls do not cycle in the same numbers as their male peers, researchers found that cycling is a social practice that is normal for boys to engage in and socially deviant for girls.

At the ceremony, Senior Programme Manager with Green-Schools Jane Hackett said: “When we first launched the #andshecycles campaign we spoke about the reasons why girls were choosing not to cycle. We now know that it’s often not a choice and that the social practice of cycling as a “boy’s thing” prevents young women from experiencing the joy and independence cycling can bring. It’s great to be here to celebrate these 23 amazing young women who are working to deviate from the norm, let’s hope they bring their friends along with them!”