Macroom students honoured for closing  gender cycling gap

THE EFFORTS of six Macroom students to bring their female peers up to speed when it comes to cycling to school have been recognised at a recent awards ceremony hosted by a campaign aimed at promoting cycling among girls.

Chloe Lehane, Daimhin McKenna, Ellen Murray, Ellen O’Donoghue, Emily Mehigan, and Rachel Twomey of St Mary’s Secondary School were all awarded for their efforts to promote cycling among their female peers, with Ellen Murray receiving the higher honour of outstanding ambassador.

The #andshecycles campaign is an initiative under the auspices of the An Taisce Green-Schools Travel and follows research which suggested that just one in every 250 schoolgirls across Ireland were cycling to school.

The programme to address the teenage gender cycling gap included a number of training sessions including leadership and communication, bike maintenance, track cycling, and ambassador development, aimed at helping the participants achieve significant actions within their school communities.

A total of 44 ambassadors were celebrated for their achievements at the ceremony in Richmond Barracks in Dublin last week. All received a medal for their contributions, and were congratulated by An Taisce’s director of education, Cathy Baxter.

Ellen Murray was one of three to receive the highest accolade of Outstanding Ambassador.

Addressing the audience at the awards ceremony, #andshecycles co-ordinator Orla Patton said the ambassadors had been “working tirelessly throughout the school year to dismantle gender barriers, promote inclusion, create opportunities for girls to cycle, and act as real role models within their school communities”.

“The work done by the ambassadors is nothing short of amazing and has made incredible, lasting change in their own schools and beyond,” said Ms Patton.

An Taisce has been working on the national Green-Schools Travel theme, which focuses on promoting sustainable travel on the school run, since September 2008.

The Travel theme is funded by the Department of Transport and is supported by the National Transport Authority.