Count Me In! family fun day will mark opening of Newtown Cycle Track
Count Me In! and Gloucestershire County Council are inviting families to saddle up and take part in a Ride the Route day of cycle events to mark the official unveiling of the Newtown Cycle Track.
On April 25th, Count Me In! – the Healthy Towns programme for Tewkesbury – will host the Ride the Route event which will include an official ribbon cutting ceremony unveiling the completed 1,900 metre Newtown Cycle Track and footpath.
The track, built by Gloucestershire County Council, runs between Shannon Way and Oldbury Road and links Northway, Newtown and the Town Centre. It also extends as far as Ashchurch Station and connects to the Sustrans National Cycle Route 45.
The track is designed to create a ‘green’ corridor which provides an alternative to short car journeys, to provide a leisure route for cyclists and to provide a safer route to schools and businesses. It has intelligent street lighting, which switches off between 11pm and 5.30am to save energy and reduce carbon. The lighting is also sensitive to the glow worm population living along the route.
Throughout the Ride the Route event, which is being based at Tewkesbury School from 10.30am to 3pm, families can take part in a whole host of cycling-orientated activities – including a checkpoint cycle rally, bike doctor, led cycle rides, Get Cycling fun bikes, post code engraving and even a cycle-powered smoothie maker!
Families are encouraged to bring their bikes and helmets along to try out the completed route or to take part in the cycle rally – the first 200 cyclists visiting all the checkpoints and completing the rally will receive a food voucher. For those without bikes, Count Me In! will provide a large selection suitable for all the family, which can be borrowed for free.
Emma Shibli, CMI member for the environment and Gloucestershire County Council’s Transport Planner, walking and cycling, said: “One of the council’s aims is to encourage people to cycle and walk to work and school and to leave their cars at home - this track provides a great way of doing just that.
“It is in a beautiful area and we have tried to make sure the track is an environmentally friendly and as sympathetic to the surroundings as possible.
“I hope that people from all over the county and beyond enjoy using the route and I would invite people to come along on April 25th to try it out for themselves.”