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KTW: Oct 22, 2009: Another reason to ride
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rt-@queensu.ca
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Oct 23, 2009 18:41 PDT
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Another reason to ride
Posted By Whitney Fleming
Posted 1 day ago
Ride your bike to school and risk having it ripped off?
Not anymore.
An initiative to get high school students moving — but ensure bicycles don’t get stolen — has spun into gear.
Welding students at Napanee District Secondary School have answered a call for sturdy bike racks, a request put forward by the KFL&A Public Health.
In late February, approximately 40 students in the welding program began building bike racks for local area high schools, as well as themselves.
With funding from Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health Services, they were able to produce 25 inverted- U bike racks within three months.
Welding teacher Adam Bonsall says it was a large project but nothing they couldn’t handle.
“The project was actually initiated by KFL&A Public Health when they came to the school to promote physical activity,” he says. “We were asked if we wanted the bike racks but when we found the cost of shipping them would be too expensive, we decided to take it on as a welding project.”
With a little input from Kingston Cycle Path and plenty of hard work, the project was embraced by students. Cycle Path cycling experts suggested idea of the inverted U-style racks as a unique design.
“Each rack is worth about $500,” says Bonsall. “With the local community supporting our shop and always donating practice material, I knew the students were up to the challenge.”
Students spent many days cutting, measuring, jigging and welding all of the pieces into place.
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NDSS student Jeremiah Lynch was one who played a part in the process and says it was satisfying to see it completed.
“It took a lot of patience and focus,” he says. “We came to class and worked at it every day.”
By the end of May, the racks were delivered to Kingston Collegiate Vocational Institute and Loyalist Collegiate Vocational Institute. Students at both schools are hitching their two-wheelers to the racks with ease now.
Physical Activity Specialist at KFL&A Public Health Debbie O’Grady couldn’t be more pleased with the finished product.
“We were very grateful that NDSS was able to build such fabulous bike racks. They did a fantastic job,” says O’Grady. “The project was part of our active transportation initiative, that being any form of human powered travel.”
The distribution of the racks is also a pilot study to evaluate whether the installation of the racks increases cycling to school.
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Ross Trethewey
NEW: e-mail: rt8 at queensu.ca (Preferred)
Contact Numbers
(613)542-7104 (in Kingston)
(905)885-6818 (In Port Hope)
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