Winnipeg school turns empty playground into multi-use bike park

A Winnipeg school has turned its playground and soccer field into a community bike park, offering a chance for kids and adults to get active and practise their cycling.

"Itreally develops a skill that can be a lifelong passion for people," said Anna Mangano, the principal at Arthur E. Wright Community School.

Complete with gravel paths, hilly mounds, and outdoor classroom and green spaces, the new bike park at the Maples-area school is designed to be used byboth students andthe rest of the neighbourhood.

"The intention was that we would build an active-living green space for people from birth to 100 years of age," Manganosaid.

Funding for the park came from the the Seven Oaks School Division, the city, the province, and the Winnipeg Foundation.

Five years ago, as part of itsphysical education curriculum, Arthur E. Wright Community School piloted a bike education and skills program that is now used in 24 schools across Manitoba. Over a number of grade levels, students learnbike commuting skills and bike maintenance.

A.E. Wright also has a "bike library,"that letsstudents can borrow bikes.

With all that education, students now have a place right outside their classroom to practise their new skills, Mangano said.

Previously, the field was "pretty flat we had a few basketball hoops and a little soccer," she said. "But now kids see this as a great opportunity to be active in lots of different kinds of ways."

Jamie Hilland, a sustainable transportation planner with the consulting companyUrban Systems, started the bike education program and worked to get the park built.

"We designed it to be a four-season facility," he said, addingthat the parkcan be used for snowshoeing and skiing in winter months.

The school says withlimitedaffordable recreational options in the Maples, the bike parkoffers a community facility that can be used by everyone.

"I've been teaching mountain biking for seven years," said Hilland. "To have a facility like this, especially in a residential area, that the community can access I'm pretty stoked."