Islanders swap car for bike in Chest and Heart Unit fundraiser

The 20 in Two community challenge was encouraging people to get more active, as well as raising money for screening equipment for the Guernsey Chest & Heart Clinic.

In total more than £6,000 was raised by more than 70 people who took part.

The challenge was a joint effort between the Guernsey Bicycle Group – the not-for-profit dedicated to getting more people cycling as part of everyday life – and Guernsey Chest and Heart, the charitable body providing a free health screening service to Bailiwick residents.

Holly Lindsay from the Guernsey Bicycle Group said this year had been a fantastic start to the initiative.

‘One of the excellent things about Guernsey and our culture here is that everyone’s up for constantly trying new things and pushing for improvements within ourselves and our community,’ she said.

‘With this challenge, we wanted to focus on helping support those who are starting their health, environmental, or community journey by getting active and having fewer cars on our packed little roads.

‘It’s been great seeing the shift towards active travel on the island and supporting an important charity for our community.’

It is hoped those taking part will appreciate how easy active travel can be, and hopefully it would become a habit.

Individuals, families and corporate teams all took part, with journeys to school, work and social events.

Office worker Harriet Scaramella was one of the people taking part.

‘The 20 in Two challenge has improved my fitness in two months and made me realise how much quicker it is to get everyone on my bike, and you get that feel-good boost by doing so,’ she said.

‘Once you get in the habit, it becomes second nature to travel by bike, and so many journeys just make more sense that way.’

Organisers are already looking to next year, when it is hoped more than 150 people will take part.

The challenge was supported by PwC and Oi.