Boffa Miskell takes on the Aotearoa Bike Challenge

Choosing to cycle can contribute to lower carbon emissions, improved air quality, reduced noise pollution, and help ease congestion

Participants earn one point for every kilometre they ride; and 10 points for every day they ride. Encouraging a returning rider (already with an ABC profile) earns 50 points; and if a new rider signs up, and names an ‘encourager’, that person earns 100 points!

As a company, Boffa Miskell competed in the 200 – 499 staff division, and finished in fourth place nationally with 32,892 points.

Even better, according to the final statistics, the cumulative effect of the 108 Boffa Miskell consultants making their weekday commute via pedal power equates to 1628kg of carbon dioxide that didn't go into our atmosphere.

The combined Northern offices (Auckland and Whangarei) competed in the Consultancy/50 – 199 staff division, and with 6184 points placed third overall in the Auckland region.

The team was led by Sarah Flynn with 911 points; along with most trips (51) and most encourager points (200). John Potter’s 571 distance points topped that category, and Michael Bain earned the maximum-possible day points (280). Sarah was the top commuter with most days (20) and kilometres (346) cycling to work.

The Waikato-Bay of Plenty offices (Hamilton and Tauranga) competed in the Consultancy/20 – 49 staff division and placed second overall in the Tauranga region with 6736 points.

Team WaiBop was led by Frazer Baggaley with 1976 points. Frazer led in distance points (1076), encourager points (700), and most trips (26). Bex Morell topped the day points with 220. Karin Sievwright rode to work 13 days in February, making her the top commuter in that category; while Helen Baggaley was the top distance commuter, clocking 251 kilometres riding to and from the office.

The Central offices (Wellington and Nelson) competed in the Consultancy/20 – 49 staff division, and with 6706 points topped the Wellington region – with the Boffa Miskell riders more than doubling the 3316 points of the second-place consultancy team!

Finishing with 1872 total points, Miriam Moore had the most kilometres biked (592), most trips (62), most day points (280) and a massive 1000 encourager points.

In the commuter categories, Connor McKeown’s 17 days cycling to work were the most in the office, although his total of 58 kilometres was sixth in distance. Riding a total of 381 kilometres, Charles Horrell took the first place in the commuter distance category.

Across all industries nationwide in the 20 – 49 staff division, Boffa Miskell WaiBoP and Boffa Miskell Central placed 6th and 7th, respectively.

The Christchurch office was in the highly-competitive Consultancy/50 - 199 staff division, and although their 8349 points would have been a top-three finish in other regions, it was only ninth-place in Canterbury!

Cara-Lisa Schloots came in with the most points overall (911) and distance (701); while Henare Howard logged the most trips (53) and Sean Eustace led in day points (230). Sean, Henare and Scott Hooson each had 50 encourager points. The leading commuters were Gabe Ross with a top distance of 313 kilometres and Rhys Girvan cycled to work for 18 days.

Queenstown competed in the Consultancy/7 – 19 staff division in the Otago region and came in second place with 3797 points. The office finished in fifth place nationwide for all industries of that size.

Kerrie Chisholm finished in first place with 1059 total points, 32 trips, 180 day points and 450 encourager points; and Yvonne Pflüger had 460 distance points. Kerrie was also the top commuter, clocking 342 kilometres over 15 days cycling to work.

Dunedin competed in the Consultancy/1 - 6 staff division in the Otago region, finishing in fifth place with 1159 points. The office was in fourth place in Dunedin for all industries in the 1 - 6 staff category.

Brent Rohloff finished with most total points (348) and distance (148), with Sam Parsons earning top day points (120) and most trips (13), and Lisa Parsons 200 encourager points. Mark Brown and Summer Young were tied for top commuter honours, with four days and 20 kilometres each. 

Company-wide category winners

Overall points: Frazer Baggaley – 1976

Distance: Frazer Baggaley – 1076 km

Rides: Miriam Moore – 62

Encourager points: Miriam Moore – 1000

Day points: Michael Bain – 280

Commuting days: Sarah Flynn – 20

Commuting distance: Charles Horrell – 381 km

Additionally, thanks to the encouragement of their colleagues, 22 people tried cycling for the first time (or for the first time in a very long time). Thirteen of those new riders came from the North Island, and nine from the South Island.