Silver chain.
Mississippi Mills Mayor Al Lunney accepts the silver chain on behalf of town residents during the Lanark County council meeting on Aug. 25.
Desmond Devoy
MISSISSIPPI MILLS – When it
comes to cycling, Missississippi Mills residents are the Lance Armstrong of
recreational and commuter cycling amongst fellow Lanark County
municipalities.
The town won the “Silver Chain Challenge,” and was awarded
the prestigious chain, a restored bicycle chain during the Lanark County
Council meeting in Perth
on Aug. 25.
“I think it was a great initiative by Jeff Mills and his
group,” said Mississippi Mills Mayor Al Lunney just before he headed down to Perth to pick up the
prize. “They’ve increased interest in cycling in Mississippi Mills.”
The gauntlet was thrown down by Lunney back in May, in which
he challenged other Lanark
County municipalities to
see which area had the best cycling spirit. Area residents were encouraged to
go online and register their bicycle rides and distance cycled during the month
of June, Bicycle Month. Altogether, 72 riders logged 24,037 kilometres.
And the amount of kilometers logged by Mississippi Mills
residents left other towns choking on their dust.
Mississippi Mills had 50 registered riders log 12,328 kms. Carleton Place was
in second place with nine riders and 2,588 kms, followed by Perth’s six cyclists who pedalled 2,031 kms. Beckwith Township had four participants cycle
1,017 kms.
Tay Valley Township,
Drummond/North Elmsley and Lanark
Highlands had one
registered rider a piece, but the numbers each community logged varied widely. Tay Valley’s
lone cyclist managed to log 6,017 kms, while Lanark Highland’s representative
put in 50 km. Drummond/North Elmsley had the lowest distance travelled at just
six.
The Township of Montague and town of Smiths Falls did not have any riders register.
“I’m pleased that Mississippi Mills is the winner,” said
Lunney. “This has been a great year for it (cycling). The weather has been
really, really good.”
Lunney noted that, on a recent trip to Ottawa, he noticed quite a few people out
cycling on the roads in the morning.
“People here are already empowered to get on our bikes,”
said Mississippi Mills Bicycle Month organizer Jeff Mills. He noted that the
numbers “show an upward trend in terms of bike use,” even though this is the
first year of the challenge.
Mills added that he hopes the “healthy competition” between
Mississippi Mills and Carleton
Place will mean more miles racked up next year.
Mills also expressed pleasant surprise at Tay Valley’s
lone rider and his impressive kilometre count.
“We know that there are all kinds of kilometres that were
not logged,” he pointed out, adding that all about 355 litres of fuel was not
burned by cars as a result of the distance travelled by area cyclists.
However, Smiths
Falls and Montague failed
to attract any riders to the challenge, something Mills would like to remedy
next year.
“We need to get that message out so we have to get the
school out there,” he said.
Heart and Stroke grant
One way in which Mills and his cycling group hope to get
more children involved is through a $3,000 grant from the Heart and Stroke
Foundation of Canada to help plan safe cycling routes to local schools.
“We’re starting work this fall. It’s in the works,” promised
Mills, of the initiative to “identifying routes,” to highlight for kids to use
within Mississippi Mills.
One of his group’s members, Ruth Ann McKinnon, who recently
moved to Montreal, will be coming back from Quebec to help initiate
talks with area schools to develop the routes which will emphasize safety for
pedestrians and cyclists alike.
“It’s a collective action that will create a healthy
lifestyle,” said Mills. “I think we have to start with families…We’ve got to
get them walking and riding.”
He pointed out that, in 1964, 50 per cent of Canadian kids
rode to school on a bike and the childhood obesity rate was only 12 per cent.
By 2004, only three per cent of kids rode a bike to school, and the childhood
obesity rate had risen to 45 per cent.
“It’s about good physical and mental health,” said Mills.
The grants were given out under the foundation’s Spark! program, which he feels
is an appropriate name.
“It does spark people to healthier action,” said Mills.
He commended McKinnon for coming back to the province
because “she’s committed to finishing what she started.”