Greenway gets top European award

A GREAT GREENWAY?Pictured holding the latest award for the Great Western Greenway award is Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring, TD, with Padraig Philbin (Mayo Enterprise & Investment UNIT), Brian Quinn (Failte Ireland West) and Anna O’Connor (Mayo County Council Walking Officer).?Pic: Michael McLaughlin

Greenway gets top European award


Áine Ryan

THE SUCCESS of the Great Western Greenway has been marked once again with a first prize at the European Greenways Award, presented last week in Portugal. The sixth European Greenways Awards ceremony was held during an international conference, entitled ‘Greenways and Sustainable Tourism’.
The Greenway pipped entries from Murcia in Spain (which came second) and Two Tunnels Greenway, UK (third) to the post in the Exemplary Initiatives Category.
Responding to the news, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring said: “This is fabulous news for Co Mayo. The Greenway has transformed the Newport and Mulranny areas in terms of tourism performance while creating almost 40 jobs locally.”
The Great Western Greenway is a traffic-free cycling and walking route that runs along the disused Great Western Railway line, which was closed in 1937. It has many entry points along its spectacular route, which runs from Westport through Newport, on to Mulranny and ends in Achill.
“The Greenway is a classic example of taking an underused local asset, looking at it in a new way and exploiting its full potential for the betterment of the local community and economy,” said Fiona Monaghan, Head of Operations for FΡilte Ireland in the west.
Almost 160,000 trips have been recorded along the route since the beginning of 2013 while the busiest day this year was Saturday, August 3, when 1,015 people availed of the resource. Indeed, 2013 is set to surpass 2012’s 177,000 users, with current projections at 200,000.
The first 18 km of the Greenway, from Newport to Mulranny, opened in 2010, while the two extensions linking south to Westport and east to Achill formally opened in July 2011, lengthening the route to 42 km, mostly off-road. It forms part of the National Cycle Network and it is the longest off road cycling experience in the country.
The European Greenways Award aims to promote best practice and to support greenway projects across the continent.