Greenies pedal for the planet round Ruapehu

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 572, 7 February 1995, Page 4

Greenies pedal for the planet round Ruapehu

A group of enthusiastic amateur cyclists cycled around Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe during the weekend to raise money for a national environment organisation. The 15 or so cyclists from Wellington and Auckland gathered sponsors for their 1 54 km journey and the money raised will go to help Environment and Conservation Organisations Incorporated (ECO) in its work. . ECO coordinator Stephen Blyth says cycling round the central mountains is a first for ECO, and was a challenge for the urban cyclists, some of whom are not the fittest greenies to pedal down a mountain road. "It's a fun ride to raise money for our work." The ECO cyclists started from Ohakune dn Sunday morning, heading first to Waiouru first. They planned to camp out on Sunday night, and complete the ride on Monday, Waitangi Day. They were easily identified by their slow pace and brightly coloured ECO T-shirts, said Mr Blyth. Based in Wellington, ECO works for 80 environmental groups scattered around the country, lobbying government on a range of issues and keeping groups informed about key issues. Recent work has been on fisheries management, management of national parks, and DoC funding.