300 primary school children enjoyed a day on their bikes for the annual Alexandra ‘Top Bike’ event run by Sport Central and Cycling Southland yesterday.

The days activities included a mountain bike team time trial, a challenging skills course and a 400m grass track race, the action kicked off at 9.30am and ran until around 2pm.

Sport Central sport and active recreation advisor Jo McKnight said it was very cool to see the event go ahead as it had to be delayed due to covid-19 event restrictions earlier this year.

“We want to build kids confidence on bikes and give them insights into the cycling pathways,” Jo said.

The biking pathways she referred to extend to different disciplines such as mountain biking, road racing, bmx or biking as a mode of transport.

Children in years 5,6, 7 and 8 from primary schools in Central, Queenstown and Wanaka all attended the day. Lots of parent volunteers and teachers from the schools contributed to the day running smoothly.

It was a frosty start with a mere 1’C on the thermometer when the first mountain bikers took to the course amongst the Molyneux park pine trees.

Jo said the secret to doing a good time on the mountain bike event was for the team to stay close together as the time was taken when the fourth rider crossed the finish line. 

From left: The Terrace School's year eight girls Paige Adams and Scarlett Barnes were excited to try out the mountain bike team time trial.

Ten years old and all keen riders: Charlie Dodd, Liam King and Jono Hansen from Cromwell Primary. The trio said they loved being outdoors for the day.

Eden Deuchrass and Cara Naylor from Cromwell, were chilly but ready to ride. They said the skills course was tough and they'd taken out a cone or two.

Big smiles: Clyde School's year seven and eights at the start line, prior to their time trial.

Keep the cones on your left: Jo McKnight shares tips on the course map with a Clyde School team.

Blue view: Children from Queenstown Primary were balanced when they set off to beat the clock for their time trial.

According to the Ministry of Transport annual safety statistics, in 2020 their were 11 fatal crashes, 147 serious injury crashes and 551 minor injury crashes involving cyclists in these crashes.

The Ministry of Health website recommends children and teens aged five - 17 do at least one hour of moderate or vigorous physical activity spread over each day.

Events such as Top Bike are a great way to teach safety skills, giving young people a chance to grow in confidence while cycling and also hit the physical activity targets for general health, wellbeing and fitness.

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PHOTOS: Anna Robb