The Bikes in Schools programme that kicked off in Northland two years ago at Raurimu Primary School has grown and gone from strength to strength.

Six primary schools now have the Bikes in Schools programme in their school (Raurimu, Ruakaka, Otaika Valley, Onerahi, Ohaeawai and Te Kopuru School) with several schools on the waiting list.

The Bikes in Schools programme was introduced to New Zealand by the Bike on Trust in the Hawkes Bay in 2010. Bikes in Schools is a complete biking package implemented within a school that enables all students to ride a bike on a regular basis. The package includes a fleet of new bikes, a bike helmet for every child, a riding track constructed at the school, bike storage and bike coaching to teach the children and teachers biking skills. Many of the schools raise their own seed funding and Bike Northland has helped them by securing funding for helmets from Fonterra, the Bike on Trust and other sources for the construction of the track and purchasing the fleet of bikes. KiwiSport has supported Bike Northland to deliver the bike training and coaching aspect of the programme.

The success of the Bikes in Schools programme comes at a good time in the Whangarei region with the development of the Town Basin Loop walk/cycleway (4.2km). The Whangarei District Council is also in the process of developing links to the loop as part of their Walking and Cycling strategy which will eventually provide a number of off road links to the CBD from the suburbs for commuting and recreation purposes. The first of these links is being constructed at the moment from Beach Rd, Onerahi to the CBD and from the CBD to Raumanga which ends up going past NorthTec and the Whangarei Hospital giving Onerahi and Raurimu school students an opportunity to put their cycling skills to use. Future links (pending funding) will go from Station road in Kamo connecting five schools – Kamo High, Whangarei Boys High, Whangarei Girls High, Whangarei Primary and Whangarei Intermediate.

For more information on the Bikes in Schools projects visit www. Bikeon.org.nz or Bike Northland on http://www.allteams.co.nz/bike-northland