Mosgiel Central Kindergarten took part in the recent Aotearoa Bike Challenge and was Otago regional winner in the category for organisations with three to six staff.
With all five staff members cycling, Mosgiel Central’s percentage of staff involvement was 100%. Teacher Erana Fielding said their team had "different levels of fitness and expertise", a mix of bikes, some of them borrowed, no e-bikes — "it was all pedal power" — and a great deal of enthusiasm.
"Some took it to to the extreme," Ms Fielding said.
One staff member who lives in Dunedin at Musselburgh, had cycled from there to Mosgiel a couple of times. One of the two Mosgiel staff members had cycled to and from work every day. And some of the team were continuing to cycle.
Ms Fielding, who also lives at Musselburgh, said she did not cycle to Mosgiel but had done a couple of rides beside Otago Harbour on the St Leonards cycleway.
"We all gave it a good shot," she said.
Some of the team had not been on a bicycle "for 30 years". A couple had taken part in the Wanaka Challenge about three years ago but were allowed to enter the beginners’ section as they had not cycled for more than a year.
One of the team, Ashley Foster, came first in the beginner cyclist section and Esther Bylsma was third in the woman cyclist section.
"We were very excited to do so well," Ms Fielding said. "It was all for fun and fitness."
The team had so enjoyed the bike challenge they had decided to have a "swim month" and swim the 23km distance of a Cook Strait crossing - by swims of 10 minutes a time - this month.
During last month’s bike challenge, more than 14,300 New Zealanders "got on their bikes", including 280 people from 66 organisations in Otago.
They cycled 2.1 million km in the challenge, and made more than 159,000 trips by cycle, 700 of them in the Otago region.
