Ostrava co-organizes the competition “Bike to Work”

For the second year, Ostrava will become the city organizer of Bike to Work. Ostrava councillors decided to cooperate with Auto*Mat, its main organizer. In 2018, 667 cyclists, runners and pedestrians took part in the competition, together covering a total of 194,013 km.

“Last year we were very pleased with the increased interest of competitors in this challenge. I would like to see the popularity of non-car commuting to work continue to grow.  I wish all riders, runners and pedestrians a safe and healthy way to work”, said Deputy Mayor Kateřina Šebestová.

The competition takes place from May 1 to May 31 and is open to all cyclists, runners and pedestrians who want to improve not only their fitness, health, mood, but also relationships with their colleagues and contribute to a cleaner air or a more comfortable and a safer city. The aim of the competition is not only to feel good, but also to collect information about the real routes people use to go to work.

“We are starting the largest mapping of real cycling routes. We cooperate with analysts who are able to compare anonymized data about participants’ routes from connected applications and compare them against city maps. We know from the pilot project that cyclists often take different routes than those planned for them by city officials. We also identified a number of places where there is a lot of bicycle traffic, more accidents, offences and insufficient infrastructure. We will continue to discuss these places with the cities”, explains Jan Haruda of Auto*Mat.

The theme of the 9th year of Bike to Work is “Homo cykliens”. The theme refers to a new approach to urban mobility, the emergence of a “new species” of man. According to Auto*Mat, the new man is equipped with a mountain bike, a road bike, a scooter or running shoes, i.e. means that will fare better in a city jungle than a car. It doesn’t matter if he’s young or old, man or woman. Bike to Work (and to School) is here for everyone.

Prizes for cyclists, pedestrians and runners will be awarded in the categories “Individual Performance”, “Run to Work” and “Team Regularity”. Just like last year, they can win valuable prizes. Registration for the competition will take place in three rounds. The first round with the lowest price takes place in March, while the second and third waves will follow in April. An electronic registration form, as well as other information about the competition, accompanying events and prizes for competitors are available at www.dopracenakole.cz or at http://zdravaova.cz.