The cyclists who joined the Algarve team at the European Cycling Challenge 2015 (ECC 2015) together covered more than 13 thousand kilometres.
Numbers that were not enough to win the challenge, which took place throughout May, but which place the region in an honorable second place in the third group of this initiative, which aims to promote the use of bicycles as a privileged means of transport for daily commuting. to-day.
AMAL – Algarve Intermunicipal Community went public with highlighting the «good results» obtained by the team that “sponsored” this challenge, which had thousands of citizens pedaling along the roads of Europe.
According to this entity, the region "was ahead of cities like Barcelona and Bristol." More data about the challenge and its results should be presented to the public at the end of June.
«With 294 urban cyclists, the Algarve stood out in the 4th edition of an event that seeks to promote the use of the bicycle as a means of transport in the usual daily journeys», illustrated, in a press release, by AMAL, the entity that brings together the 16 Algarve municipalities.
«The acceptance of the Algarve community was quite satisfactory, with more than 70 activities organized within the scope of the participation of the Algarve team, in a very dynamic and diversified program for 31 days of competition», added that entity, which recalls that, as a rule, «only 1 percent of daily trips [in the Algarve] are carried out by bicycle».
The European Cycling Challenge has, at its base, a mobile application, which anyone can download to their mobile phone, in order to participate in the event. In addition to counting the kilometers traveled by each cyclist who joins the challenge, the application allows "a survey of the preferred paths and routes of two-wheelers, in order to assess the conditions offered by them and define investment priorities for the future”, according to AMAL.
And, bearing in mind that this is a comprehensive challenge – anyone, resident or visitor, had the opportunity to join the Algarve team – we got to know not only where the Algarve cyclists are, but also where they ride. who visit the region.
“This challenge also served to awaken public opinion to the gaps in the country's legislative framework on the use of bicycles, one of the main means of transport in Europe's cities and regions, in order to overcome obstacles and better adapt the territory for the circulation of this vehicle, which is environmentally friendly and synonymous with a healthy lifestyle», added AMAL.
ECC 2015 was promoted in the Algarve region by AMAL in collaboration with the municipalities, the Territorial Command of the District of Faro GNR, the National Road Safety Authority, the Trains of Portugal, the General Directorate of School Establishments in the Algarve Region, Inframoura, the Portuguese Federation of Cycle Tourism and Bicycle Users and various associations and informal groups of citizens.
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