Workshop H 8, Thursday 22 June, 14.00 - 15.30

Cycling as exercise

Peter Wolfhagen, Project co-ordinator, Netherlands on the Move!, Netherlands Olympic Committee* Netherlands Sport Confederation (NOC*NSF), the Netherlands Mariken Leurs, Programme co-ordinator, Netherlands on the Move!, Netherlands Olympic Committee* Netherlands Sport Confederation (NOC*NSF) the Netherlands Cycling to Health; The Netherlands on the Move! The key objective of The Netherlands on the Move!, an action program of NOC*NSF in co-operation with many other major national, regional and local organisations, is 'to realise a substantial increase in the number of Dutch citizens who enhance their health through an active lifestyle which includes regular exercise'. The programme focuses on improving the link between scientific research and the practicalities of health promotion by translating scientific research into effective projects. In 1998, several experts agreed upon a norm for the amount and intensity of regular exercise needed to enhance health. Half an hour of moderately intensive exercise on five, preferably all days of the week is the basic norm for adults and seniors. Internationally applied norms such as those from the ACSM and the WHO/FIMS were used to reach this consensus. The norm is specified for youth, adults and seniors. The healthy exercise norm, one of the key products of the Netherlands on the Move!, is the basic guideline for the promotion of cycling in the Netherlands. Even though the Netherlands is well known for its high percentage of people who ride bicycles, 60% of the Dutch population does not meet the norm for healthy exercise. The promotion of cycling to work and cycling as a leisure-time activity are an important part of the new strategy to promote health-enhancing physical activity among adults. In this strategy, several national organisations are working together in the Netherlands on the Move!.

Ad Phernambucq, campaign co-ordinator, COS-Nederland (Centre for International Co-operation and Sustainable Development), the Netherlands The campaign 'Cycle to Work' scores a lot of points. In 1992 the Zeeland Platform for Sustainable Development started the campaign 'Cycle to Work'. This campaign stimulates commuter cycling and this realises benefits in at least five fields: Nature & environment, Health and absenteeism at work, Less traffic jams and a better accessibility, Quality of life in towns and villages and Support of sustainable energy projects in developing countries (by sponsoring). The campaign started in Zeeland with 400 participants. The growth happens step by step. In 2000 there is a nation-wide covering with 15.000 to 20.000 participants. The objective is to expand to 50.000 participants in two or three years time. Participants can enlist individually or via the company for which they work. The portraying of the results is one of the cornerstones of the campaign It makes clear that all small individual contributions towards a better environment together have a meaning after all. Research is being carried out on the effects. This has yielded some interesting conclusions: * Participants of the campaign drive weekly 25 kilometres less. Part of this is realised outside the scope of commuting. * The cycling campaign succeeds to motivate a substantial number of relatively inactive employees to go and cycle. In the past few years much has been invested in fitness to fight the employees' inactivity. The stimulating of commuter cycling hardly came into focus. A strong stimulus of commuter cycling tackles both the traffic jam problem and the inactivity.