TU team cycled top-notch! City Cycling: Record participation and great TU successes

Every year, the City Cycling event offers the opportunity to deliberately cover many and long distances by bike: the aim is to “experience” as many kilometres as possible over a period of three weeks. Employees and students of TU Braunschweig took part with great successes and a record participation.

Between 27 August and 16 September, numerous cyclists from TU Braunschweig were once again on the road in and around Braunschweig – and, after last year’s victory, once again came in first place with a record number of participants.

A record result: a total of 456 active cyclists collected kilometres in the City Cycling event. 45 of them are happy about the great team result on University Square. Photo credit: Kristina Rottig/TU Braunschweig

In 2021, the TU team covered 39,900 km with 224 cyclists; in 2022, the team covered 62,600 km with 343 cyclists; this year, the team has even reached over 88,000 km with 456 participants in 33 sub-teams from central and decentralised facilities, institutes and student groups.

The captain of the TU team, Sándor Fekete from the Institute of Operating Systems and Computer Networks, has been particularly diligent this year, cycling 1,609 km – exactly 1,000 miles. Close behind were Gunnar Bosse from the Institute of Railway Systems Engineering and Traffic Safety with 1,501 km and Martin Korte with 1,472 km. Among the women, student Nadine Kartun was the most persistent. She cycled a total of 1,095 km.

“Living sustainability”

“By participating in the City Cycling event, our TU members have set an excellent example for more environmentally friendly mobility and climate protection, while also doing something for their health,” says TU President Angela Ittel. “Our success this year tops last year’s good result. We were able to collect even more climate-friendly cycling kilometres. The large number of active participants also shows that sustainability not only plays an important role in research at TU Braunschweig, but is also actively lived by our members. Many thanks and congratulations to all participants!”

TU team contributes to Braunschweig’s good ranking

The TU team has thus made a significant contribution to Braunschweig’s overall progress: After 1,332,000 km in 2022, all Braunschweig residents cycled over 1,627,000 km this year. This puts the city of Braunschweig in 24th place nationwide among 2,800 participating municipalities. In terms of the number of active people, the city was in 20th place nationwide with 8,500 – ahead of Cologne or Dresden. In Lower Saxony, Braunschweig is at the top of the 28 municipalities with 100,000 or more people with the highest number of kilometres covered per inhabitant.

Cycling in everyday life out of conviction

Photo credit: Kristina Rottig/TU Braunschweig

“Sustainable cooperation at TU Braunschweig is not only about saving resources, but also about team spirit! Especially with the diversity of interests and activities at our university, joint physical exertion is not only a great way to compensate for all the mental work, but cycling also connects because it is so universal,” says TU captain Sándor Fekete. “The great development in participation shows what is possible there. I’m looking forward to seeing what else is possible: there are a lot of great students here, and I’m sure we can inspire many more of them to join the TU team!

Frequent cyclist Gunnar Bosse from the Institute for Railway Systems Engineering and Traffic Safety adds: “Cycling was fun again and pushed boundaries! I am an everyday cyclist out of conviction. Cycling is good for the environment and for me, and it’s a nice change from the office. I also love to glide through landscapes and settlements on bike tours, as far away from busy roads as possible, and to feel their essence, their nature in the truest sense of the word. Finally, as a rower, I think I have a certain competitive streak.

Martin Korte from the Department of Cellular Neurobiology at the Zoological Institute praises the opportunity to cycle with a team as a subgroup and at the same time for the entire TU Braunschweig: “The nice thing about City Cycling is that you cycle with your own department, in my case “Brain&Train”, as well as with TU Braunschweig. So in addition to the fresh air and the good climate of City Cycling, there is also the team experience. Thanks to all the organisers!