A cycling race was organized, aiming to promote the message of minimizing the effects of diabetes through daily exercise.
In the context of the 30th Anniversary Panhellenic Congress that was organized by the “Hellenic Association for the Study and Education of Diabetes Melitus” in 2016, a cycling race was included. This practice is repeated every year and the citizens have the chance to participate in this event and be engaged with the main bike road of the city and learn for the benefits of cycling.
The event was mainly promoted through social media and from medical relevant websites as people are highly concerned about their health but not so engaged with daily exercise. The event is conducted in the main bike road of Thessaloniki near the water front, so it became known to the majority of the citizens. The specific practice doesn’t require any special skills and people of all ages can participate. Another goal of this initiative is to inform people of preventing diabetes with exercise through a conference that is conducted near the cycling race area. People that are attracted through cycling in the specific area, can simultaneously participate in this conference, which is open to the public.
This open street event, constitutes a marketing technique that can be used for promoting a variety of purposes. It manages to combine an opportunity for informing people on a subject (e.g. sustainable mobility, participatory planning on SUMPS), and also engages people on cycling, promoting sustainable mobility, a basic principle of the target of low-carbon economy.
Resources needed
This practice is an initiative of the Hellenic Association for the Study and Education of Diabetes Melitus and was conducted under the aegis of the Region of Central Macedonia. The human resources needed was from the Hellenic Association but also a lot of sponsors funded the specific initiative.
Evidence of success
The success of this practice can be depicted by the amount of people that are participating every year with their friends and families (approximately 400 every year). People participating in this event not only include experts but also citizens. Another fact of success of this practice is that this event attracts people from other places, such as professional cycling athletes, and happens to be sponsored by many companies.
Difficulties encountered
Cycling as a mode of transport, is not very famous in Greece. This GP tries to change this attitude and encourage people to include daily exercise in their everyday life so as to protect their health.
Potential for learning or transfer
The specific practice can easily be transferred to other regions as there are no constraints or difficulties in organizing such an event. Most European citizens are familiar with cycling and use bicycles for their transport so it gathers a lot of potentials to interest people from all over Europe. This initiative is closely connected to the health sector, as it bridges a medical problem with a healthy life style, but it can be adapted to any other subject, such as the promotion of sustainable mobility for a low-carbon economy.
Tags: Citizens, Cycling, Health
