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Half of school children walked or biked to school in 1969, but only 13 percent were doing it in 2009.

The 2013 Bike Commuter Challenge winners are…

Jul 8, 2013 | by Active Trans

For 22 years, the Active Transportation Alliance has created thousands of new bike commuters each summer through the Bike Commuter Challenge./

The event showcases bike commuting as an activity that is fun, easy, popular and a great value. All that is topped off with the element of enjoyable competition.

Throughout the long history of the Bike Commuter Challenge, it has been the enthusiastic guidance of the Team Leader – our bike commuting evangelists – to create and recruit teams that have set new records for participation nearly every year.

Tonight Active Trans, along with Chicago Green Office Challenge, will be honoring this year’s winning teams as part of the inaugural Chicagoland Sustainable Commuting Awards Bash. All team leaders have been invited to this downtown event, along with civic and business leaders who have significantly contributed to furthering sustainable commuting in the Chicago area.

Jerome McDonnell, host of WBEZ’s Worldview, will emcee and Frank Petito, President of Orbitz, will deliver the keynote address. Chicago Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein will also speak.

Other attendees include Center for Neighborhood Technology CEO Kathy Tholin; Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko; Groupon’s CFO Jason Child and Supervisor of Human Resources Skip Schipper; Siemens Chicago CEO Judy Martinez Faye and Director of Sustainability and Green Building Solutions Ari Kobb; Jones Lang LaSalle Executive Vice President Robert Best; and Upshot Marketing President Brian Kristofek.

Here is the full list of award-winners we’ll be honoring on this big night: 

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This year was the second year Active Trans collected trip data directly from each participant, and it was the first year the event was hosted at Drivelesslivemore.com.

The new website format did present some challenges, but overall, the real-time data and the enthusiasm of team leaders inspired a very competitive Bike Commuter Challenge in 2013.

  • Total teams: 434 
  • Total confirmed participants: 5,277 (second all time highest)
  • Total commutes: 20,000 (a new record)
  • Female participants: 43 percent
  • Total miles: 110,000
  • Most miles by a single commuter: 329 (Jason Holly, Sears Holdings)
  • Biggest team: 204 (Northwestern University)
  • Most team commutes: 1,223 (Northwestern University)
  • Most team miles: 5,500 (Northwestern University)

Thanks to our sponsors – the City of Chicago, WXRT-93.1, SRAM, Clif Bar, Village Cycle Center, Divvy BikeShare, and Dark Matter Coffee – and to everyone who participated this year!