Inter-school competitions with Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson
Posted by Chris Rowe on Mar 03, 2010
Darlington’s first Inter-School Wattbike competition supported by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson
GOLD medal-winning paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson visited a school to present awards to the winners of a cycling challenge.
Darlington’s first Inter-School Wattbike competition was won by a team from Carmel RC College. The Wattbikes were loaned by the British Cycling North-East regional team to three Darlington schools, Carmel, Haughton and Longfield. Team members from the schools took turns to cycle one kilometre. An average was then calculated for the teams. The results were: Carmel, 86 seconds, Haughton, 92 seconds and Longfield, 97 seconds.
The competition was organised by Sustrans, a sustainable transport charity, and backed by Dame Tanni. At yesterday’s presentation, Maura Regan, principal of Carmel, told pupils, staff and guests that she was delighted with the energy and enthusiasm of the pupils involved in the many Sustrans cycling initiatives at the college.
“They all promote and encourage young people to cycle,” she said.
“It is fantastic that there are so many of you here today to celebrate with Dame Tanni, such a great ambassador and advocate for young people.”
Kevin Kilcullen, of Sustrans, said it had been a tough challenge.
He said: “Some riders found the short test really tough and there were many wobbly legs as riders got off the bikes after their turn.
“I plan to run the competition on an annual basis for the secondary schools in Darlington that work with Sustrans.”
