On yer bike for the 1st Docklands City Cycle
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Ivor Callely, today (May 5th 2005) announced details of the first Docklands City Cycle along with Loretta Lambkin, Director of Marketing, Dublin Docklands Development Authority and pedal perfect Roberta Rowat.The Docklands City Cycle will pedal off On Tuesday, May 31st at 7.30pm from Mayor Street in the IFSC, Dublin 1 for 10 kilometres through the streets of Dublin. The Docklands City Cycle will be the launch event for Velo-city 2005, a major annual conference being hosted in Dublin this year. The Docklands City Cycle is intended to become an annual event open to people of all ages and fitness levels and is free of charge to enter. The cycle will start in the evening at 7.30pm so people can ride up after work and bring their families for a fun and enjoyable summer’s evening cycle. The Docklands City Cycle will take in the newly re-vamped Docklands area and then proceed through the city streets passing landmarks such as the Custom House, O’Connell Street, The Spire, Merrion Square, and many of the treasures and pleasures of Dublin’s fair city. This event is a leisurely cycle not a race and it will be a traffic free event. The Garda Siochana will be marshalling the cycle and will have rolling road closures in operation. It is expected that it will take approximately one hour to complete the circuit.
Cycling enthusiasts and all those interested in this free event can log on to www.docklandscitycycle.ie from next Monday to register free of charge and be entered into a draw for bikes or a holiday courtesy of Irish Cycling Safaris. There will be designated drop off zones in Mayor Street, the start and finish point, to put confirmation slips into to be included in the draw.
The overall theme of Velo-City 2005 is "Delivering the Vision". This reflects the fact that Dublin has taken a vision-led integrated approach to cycling in the past ten years, embedding cycling into other projects as well as developing specific initiatives for cycling. There are now approximately 150km of cycle lanes at design stage or being built in Dublin City and the number of people cycling every day has increased to approx 130,000 accounting for approximately 5% of all commuter journeys to the city centre. Delegates from all over Europe will descend on Dublin for Velo-City 2005 and the conference will examine all aspects of cycling and how we can learn and progress from the research, findings and experience of experts from other Countries. The Docklands City Cycle, sponsored by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and organised by the Dublin Transport Office will be the first ever public city cycle in Dublin. Michael Ahern from the Dublin Transport Office comments, “the last time this event was run was in Paris 2 years ago and the event attracted 9,000 cyclists. We hope that the Dockland’s City Cycle will attract even more cyclists promoting Dublin as a cycle-friendly, liveable, economically vibrant and attractive city” Organisers advise cyclists to arrive at least thirty minutes prior to the event. The ride is traffic free and over gentle easy roadways and cycle paths and is suitable for children and adults alike.
For further press information: Helen O Dwyer / E-mail: helen@pr1.ie / Phone: + 353 86 2332725 / 353 1 4534011 Fax: + 353 1 4549024 / Direct phone to home: + 353 45 895250