Amaranta Williams, a pupil from Dallas Road Primary School, recently beat pupils from other Sustrans Bike It schools across the North with her colourful bike flag design and won a brand new Islabike.

Six other pupils from the school, along with pupils from other local Bike It schools were chosen to have their flag designs made into real flags for their bikes.

To enter the Sustrans ‘Bike It Flag It’ competition, children from Bike It schools all over the country designed flags for their bikes. 350 pupils from seven Lancaster and Morecambe Bike It schools entered the competition as did thousands of pupils from Bike It schools across the country.

“It’s brilliant that the winner of the North is from the Lancaster district,” commented Sustrans Bike It Officer Kathy Bashford. “The quality of the designs was really high, showing lots of children in Bike It schools have enthusiasm for and an awareness of the benefits of cycling.”

The Bike It project works directly with pupils, parents and staff in over 400 schools and over 60,000 children and young people across England and Wales to help them overcome whatever it is that is preventing them from cycling to school. This includes organising cycle training, helping to install new bike sheds, contributing to classroom work and providing information about safe routes to schools.

Participating schools across England have seen levels of cycling treble within a year – bucking the trend in declining numbers of children cycling to school.

Dallas Road Primary School is one of 23 Sustrans Bike It Schools in Lancaster and Morecambe, where the project is supported by the Lancaster City Council Cycle Demonstration Town project. Bike It is a nationwide scheme, managed by sustainable transport charity Sustrans. Nationally the project is funded by Cycling England, and the cycle industry through the Bike Hub.

Staff, parents and teachers who are interested in promoting cycling and walking in their school are encouraged to call the Sustrans School Travel Team on 0117 915 0100 for free information and advice.

• Further information about Sustrans and Bike It, including other news releases, is available at www.sustrans.org.uk. For local Bike It info please click here