The effort resulted in them taking first place in the national Aotearoa Bike Challenge 2021 three-to-six riders category yesterday.
The challenge, which is organised by the NZ Transport Agency, Love to Ride and the Christchurch City Council, encourages workplaces, clubs, individuals and groups to get on their bikes throughout the month of February.
Points are given for every person signed up and for every kilometre, and every day, that participants ride.
The wildlife hospital’s team of six, who called themselves "The Penguin Pedallers", ended the month on 4870 points — beating the team that placed second by more than 1000 points.
Dunedin city councillor Steve Walker, who is also the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital Trust Board chairman, was the team’s top rider.
He covered 1118km — helped by the fact that he cycles to the city council from Port Chalmers and back most days and cycles to most of his council-related meetings.
During the month he burnt off more than 25,704 calories, saved over 137kg of CO2 and took over 131 cycle trips.
Trust manager Jordana Whyte said it was the second year in a row the wildlife hospital team had taken part in the bike challenge.
It was a proud achievement for the team, as climate change had had a detrimental effect on many taonga species living in Dunedin and the wider Otago area.
"It fits in perfectly with our sustainability values as an organisation, plus a number of us were already regular cyclists and keen to do more," she said.
"Not to mention we are just a little bit competitive."
