On 6th April, 35 cyclists rallied for Mayor’s Cycling Awards at The Old Bus Station and an Egg Hunt ride through CMK.

Following free Dr Bike services from Cycle Saviours and a Bunny Hop contest for a £25 prize won by teenager Dominic H,

MK’s Deputy Mayor & Mayoress presented awards for cycling achievements in the MK Business Cycling Challenge and the MK Schools Cycling Challenge and to Adam Sciberras of MK Development Partnership for his participation in the Better Points reward scheme.

While the awards were being presented, free hot snacks were provided by Namji’s Restaurant in Xscape.

MC Richard Allman of MK Bikeability introduced Cllr Jennifer Wilson-Marklew, City Council Cabinet Member for Climate Action and Sustainability, who gave a short speech about why cycling is important to the Council’s plans to promote active travel.

She talked about the health and sustainability benefits of cycling. “We must get people out of their cars,” she said. “We must make it easier for people to use cycle routes or any new infrastructure we build to allow them to get to places they need to go” (see video from Paul Lane).

Julie Dawes & Lutin Smuts of The Parks Trust talked about the launch of its new 30 Mile Cycle Challenge.

Richard Allman briefed riders on the Cycling Egg Hunt challenge through CMK to Campbell Park Light Pyramid. This involved cycling to collect mystery numbers along Midsummer Boulevard.

Six teams contested the challenge.

The challege was won by a four-person team including the winner of last year’s Cycle Egg Hunt, Miles Gray (pictured second from left below, with Elaine Wales second from right).

A large chocolate Easter egg prize was presented by Elaine Wales of John Lewis,

with additional chocolate eggs donated by Liz Tribe of ICAEW.

Finally three contestants took part in the Pyramid Leap challenge, a timed competition to cycle down the pyramid hill, around the nearest tree and back to the top.

This contest was won by Tam Sheikh of Trek Bikes, who received a £25 prize.

Free bike vouchers for the Cycle Egg Hunt were made available by nextbike “We want to be part of the MK community,” said nextbike’s Leigh Richards, “really want to be engaged with it.”

The next big ride through CMK will be on Thursday 13th July (see calendar for details). All welcome.