SAN DIEGO–Three schools in the San Diego region will receive cash prizes as top finishers of the Walk, Ride, and Roll to School Challenge, an annual competition organized by the SANDAG iCommute program to encourage students and parents to choose healthier and more sustainable ways to get to school.
During designated weeks in October, 46 schools competed to have the highest percentage of students walking, biking, carpooling, or riding public transit to school. The friendly competition is designed to raise awareness of more active forms of transportation and to promote pedestrian and bike safety.
The following winners, all from the Encinitas Union School District, will receive checks to buy classroom supplies.
First Place ($1,000): Flora Vista Elementary School
Second Place ($750): Ocean Knoll Elementary School
Third Place ($500): Mission Estancia Elementary School
Collectively, participating schools represented more than 31,000 students countywide. Challenge participants reduced traffic and carbon dioxide emissions around schools and helped students get a healthy start to their day. Overall, they logged miles equivalent to 56,313 home runs in Petco Park and burned calories equal to snorkeling in La Jolla Cove for 673 hours.
Along with cash prizes for the winning schools, parents who logged their child’s trips in the online iCommute TripTracker enjoyed the chance to win prizes; iCommute will give away new kids bikes to winning students at Silver Gate Elementary School in San Diego’s Point Loma area, Hedenkamp and Heritage elementary schools in Chula Vista, and Albert Einstein Academies Elementary School in San Diego’s Golden Hill area. Families who continue to use and log more sustainable trips to/from school throughout November have another chance to win a kids bike.
The Walk, Ride, and Roll to School Challenge was made possible by iCommute Annual Partners: Pure Financial Advisors, Inc., San Diego Zoo, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, Performance Bicycle, Bicycle Warehouse, the Metropolitan Transit System, and North County Transit District.
iCommute is the San Diego regional transportation assistance program managed by SANDAG. The Walk, Ride, and Roll to School Challenge is an awareness campaign managed by the iCommute SchoolPool program, a free ridematching service for parents of students who attend the same school.
