Designers of cycle helmets rewarded

Councillor Mark Bunting, School Travel Co-ordinator Cameron Ward, Hamilton Mayor Andrew King and winners of the helmet design competition. Photo / Hamilton City Council

Eight primary and intermediate school students have received awards for winning the annual Design Your Own Helmet competition.

The important role of helmets in bike safety was highlighted at an awards ceremony at Hamilton City Council last Friday.

The eight students were presented with their design professionally airbrushed on to a bike helmet.

The winning eight were the standouts amongst 1450 competition entries this year from 28 schools.

The presentations were made by councillor Mark Bunting, chair of the Access Hamilton Taskforce. "These are the ratepayers and decision makers of the near future," he said.
"It's exciting to see their enthusiasm for biking and as a council we need to be making cycling a real and safe option for them in their daily lives."

Mayor Andrew King also congratulated the winners.

"This city really wants to encourage cycling."

The Design Your Own Helmet competition complements a range of initiatives the Council is involved in to promote safety on the roads, especially wearing helmets when biking.
"This competition is a great way to bring bike safety messages into schools — it ties in well with all the other bike initiatives happening across the city, especially the Kids on Bikes programme which we offer to schools," said school travel co-ordinator Cameron Ward.

"Kids on Bikes ensures children have the basics to ride their bikes safely, increasing their confidence. Through this work, in combination of increased safe bike paths on and off road in Hamilton, we hope to see more students biking to school."

The winning designers and their schools are: Izzy Ford, Hillcrest Normal; Morgan Feisst, Hillcrest Normal; Ranbir Sidhu, Hamilton East; Stanley Foster, Glenview Primary; Mishka Caguiat, Maeroa Intermediate; Kaylee Janphanich, Maeroa Intermediate; Abigail Beetge, Hukanui Primary; Helaha Gulzari, Nawton.