Record numbers cycle to Shrewsbury Town match

A record number of fans travelled to the Shrewsbury Town versus Oxford United football match at Greenhous Meadow last Saturday (7 May 2011).

Cycle Shrewsbury’s cycle ride to the match on Saturday 7 May attracted 88 cyclists – the season’s highest number. And, with other people also choosing to cycle to the match, the football club counted the highest number of bikes parked at the stadium since it opened – a total of 167.

Most of the riders were families from Coleham School where the ride started, and their ages ranged from 6 to over 60.

Martin James, Community Development Manager for Shrewsbury Town, was at the Greenhous Meadow to meet the group when they arrived.

He said:

“This is a wonderful turnout. We want to encourage people to come to the stadium by bike so we have been supporting these rides all season, and it’s great to see so many people here for the last ride. Our stewards were asking me where we’d put them all – luckily we have plenty of cycle parking and so we’re happy for the numbers to keep growing.”

Mal Price, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for transport, said:

“The match day rides are just one of the things we’ve been doing to show people that cycling is a great option for journeys around Shrewsbury. The rides started during our Love Your Bike month last October and the numbers have been building since then. We’ve been setting off from a different school each time to make sure everyone gets a chance to join a ride near where they live, but the rides are open to all families. We’d like to thank Shrewsbury Town for their generous support in providing reduced-price tickets to support these rides.”

Though the match day rides have finished there are more cycling events coming up soon including Bike Fest on Saturday 11 June.

You can find out more at www.cycleshrewsbury.co.uk.

Additional information
Cycle Shrewsbury is Shropshire Council’s campaign to get more people cycling on their local journeys around Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury received Department for Transport funding as one of 18 cycling towns in England from 2008-2011 and Shropshire Council has now bid for further funding to continue this work and extend it to other parts of the county