The Eddington Cycling Festival is a fun family-friendly day for residents and the wider Cambridge community. Visitors will be able to put their stamina to the test on a series of engaging and fun cycling activities including pedal powered micro cinema, music and even smoothie-making. There will also be workshops, demonstrations and talks will take place.
The festival follows the launch of the University’s ‘Eddington Number’ campaign, which runs until September and aims to get more people cycling and walking in the Cambridge area, linking to Eddington’s promotion of sustainable travel and healthy living.
The campaign is based around the Eddington number for cycling – named after its inventor Sir Arthur Eddington, who is also the astrophysicist, astronomer and mathematician that the district is named after. Participants are able to calculate their number and track their progress on the Eddington Number website (eddingtonnumber.co.uk) and connect with other cyclists using the Strava platform.
Heather Topel, Project Director of the North West Cambridge Development, who is targeting an Eddington Number of 10, commented: “The Eddington Cycling Festival is a fun way to get even more people involved with the Eddington Number campaign, and with lots of fun activities planned it will be a great day out. We hope to encourage residents and the wider Cambridge community to ride their bikes, whether they’re a keen cyclist or new to cycling.”
University Pro-Vice Chancellors Andy Neely and Chris Abell are both supporting the campaign and are hoping to raise their Eddington Numbers above 20.
Andy Neely commented: “I’ve really been enjoying using the campaign as an excuse to get out on my bike as much as possible and there’s already a friendly bit of competition brewing between me and Chris. Hopefully the festival at Eddington on 9th June will encourage even more people to participate and travel sustainably. There are targets for people of any ability and it would be great for it to be the push for anyone who hasn’t cycled in years to get back on the saddle.”
The Eddington Cycling Festival is taking place from 10am-4pm on Saturday 9 June in the Market Square at Eddington, Eddington Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 1SE.