The 7th European Greenways Awards held in Namur
EuroVelo routes featured prominently again in this year’s European Greenways Award. This year the awards were held on 16th October in Namur, Belgium. In total, seven greenways from Germany, Belgium, Spain, United Kingdom and Czech Republic were recognised as best practices examples.
For the first time ever, a Latvian Greenway (Limbaži-lake Katvaru) was also nominated for the prestigeous award.
The European Greenways Award was created in 2003 and has been held every two years since. The European Greenway Association (EGWA) give out awards in three categories: “Excellence”, “Exemplary Initiatives” and one special prize: “Best Outdoor Tourism Product for Greenways”.
The winner of the “Excellence” Category this year is the Nordbahnstrasse Wuppertal(Germany) for the transformation of the 22 Km of an abandoned railway line into an excellent inner city greenway, that develops an alternative infrastructure to connect urban and rural, in addition to protecting and enhancing industrial heritage.
The second prize in that category went to the Plazaola Greenway (Spain), which will be integral part of EuroVelo 1 and EuroVelo 3. The last price in that category was given to Koleje in Nový Jičín (Czech Republic).
In the “Exemplary Initiatives” Category the first price went to the Flemish Sporen in de Tijd / Tracks into Time for the exemplary initiative for recovering the memory of those who lived and used this former miners railway route in Flemish Ardennes and the Pays des Collines (Belgium), now a very symbolic greenway, through festivals, exhibitions, animation, meetings, music, with a high intergenerational popular participation. www.tragewegen.be www.sporenindetijd.be
The second went to Greener greenways (UK) for to the integration of biodiversity-enhancing measures, while the third prize in that category was handed to the Greenway of Terra Alta (Spain).
Finally, the special price for the “Best Outdoor Tourism Product” for Greenways was awarded to Maratón Vías Verdes / Greenways Marathon (Spain) for the creation and commercialization of a product based on greenways related to outdoor sports.
This 7th European Greenways Award has been organized by the European Greenways Association (EGWA) in cooperation with the Wallonie Region.
Article republished from EuroVelo.com