HUNDREDS of children from 23 schools across York took part in a challenge to keep fit on their way to and from class.

Children in York completed 43,000 active journeys to school on foot, scooter or bicycle as part of Sustrans Big Pedal, the UK’s largest walking, wheeling, cycling and scooting to school challenge.

During the competition, York school children were physically active – walking, cycling, wheeling and scooting to school, and completing physical activities- for a total of 7,600 hours.

Across the UK over 480,000 children took part in the Big Pedal and school communities completed over 3,400,000 active journeys to school and physical activities between April 19-30.

Speaking about the results of the Big Pedal competition, Rosslyn Colderley, Director for Sustrans in the North of England said: “It’s amazing to see how many journeys were made walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling in York during this year’s Big Pedal.

“To be able to make the Big Pedal happen once again despite the pandemic has been truly wonderful.

“The results of our recent YouGov survey highlight just how concerned children are about air pollution around their local area, and that we as adults should be doing more to make it easier for people to travel actively for everyday journeys such as the school run.

"Sustrans is calling for national and local governments to prioritise high quality walking and cycling routes and to accelerate the roll out of school streets.”

Sustrans has worked with over 23 schools in York to help more children walk and cycle their school journeys.

As The press has previously reported last month, the charity is currently working with children and the local communities around two primary schools in York, Clifton Green and Badger Hill, to create new designs for school streets to make them safer and healthier for everyone in the community to use.