Riders of all ages take part in Navan Bike Week event

Navan was full of riders of all ages on Sunday last when Navan Cycling Initiative kicked off National Bike Week with another of their family-friendly events for all.

The participants were blessed with good weather and enjoyed a leisurely tour of little-known links between quiet estates, to usually-busy main roads and a scattering of cycle lanes.

The event was supported by Community Gardai Sabrina Murray and Frank Scully (who joined on his bike), and by the Navan Order of Malta providing first-aid support.

The group of around eighty people ranging from seven to 70 set out from the Meath County Council offices, taking in the newly upgraded Convent Road down to the Kentstown Road.

The riders, who included primary-age children, teenagers, families and pensioners, came with an eclectic range of bicycles, e-bikes, cargo-bikes and hand-cycles, and ranged from novices to cycling experts.

The assembled group of children and families took in a looped route along the Kells Road, N51 and Brews Hill before heading through the town centre and then circling back to the Trim Road.

The riders returned to the event centre at Buvinda House car park via links through Woodview and Limekiln, where prizes generously provided by Spun Cycles were raffled.

Navan Cycling Initiative are running two further events for National Bike Week;

an Evening Cycle on Wednesday at the Ramparts Car Park for a ride along the Boyne Road, returning along the canal beside the river Boyne -on the future route of the Boyne Greenway. It will be perfect for families with older children and nature-lovers.

On Sunday there will be a relaxed ride to Bective Mills, where the riders will take a break for a cuppa and snacks before heading back to Navan.

National Bike Week (14-22nd May) is a celebration and promotion of the benefits of cycling.

Navan Cycling Initiative is a community-based group that aims to make cycling in Navan and surrounding areas safe, easy and fun.