Cedar Celebrates Cycling Success

Friday 01 May 2015

As Belfast launched the public bike share or “Boris bikes” scheme this week, The Cedar Foundation celebrated the success of its own accessible cycling scheme – ‘On Yer Bike’ with an event for participants at Belfast City Hall.

The accessible cycling initiative was launched in June 2014 with the aim of supporting people with disabilities living in Belfast to become more physically active and included. In its fledgling year ‘On Yer Bike’ was funded by Active Belfast (a Belfast Strategic Partnership signature initiative) which aims to promote healthy living and increase physical activity across the city.  The funding secured a fleet of specialised bikes and enabled 35 people with disabilities to successfully complete accessible cycling proficiency training.  With their training now complete they are relishing the opportunities to safely confidently and safely participate in cycling as a leisure pursuit on the cycle network and in the public parks around the Greater Belfast area.

Cedar’s Disability Sports Officer, Sergio Dominguez, designed and delivered the bespoke accessible cycling proficiency training said, “We are all too aware that people with disabilities encounter many barriers preventing them from getting involved in sport.  ‘On Yer Bike’ allows adults and young people with a range of disabilities to become more physically active in their local community and gain the benefits from taking part in exercise”.

“While, there are other clubs which support people with disabilities they tend to only cater for people with similar conditions such as tandem clubs for people with visual impairments and hand cycle clubs for people with limited leg mobility. “On Yer Bike” offers a unique and innovative opportunity for people with disabilities to get involved in cycling as it supports individuals on a pan-disability basis to cycle together”.

Without a doubt the project has generated a passion for cycling amongst its participants, they hope to share their enthusiasm with others and campaign for accessible cycling opportunities for all in the City!