Congratulations to the BikeTexas Champions!

The Texas Trails and Active Transportation Conference provided a great venue to honor some champions who have truly helped make bicycling better in Texas – with BikeTexas Champion Awards! Awards went to Leslie Luciano and Paul Douglas of Austin, Durwood Mayfield of Lubbock and Annie Melton of Dallas.

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• Leslie Luciano, Director of Advocacy at Bicycle Sport Shop in Austin, received the BikeTexas Champion Award for 2009 Professional Advocate of the Year. She played a very important role in getting the Safe Passing bill through the legislature, launching a Safe Routes to School pilot project and attracting attention to the cause through her blog.

• Paul Douglas, who has been Bicycle Coordinator at the Texas Department of Transportation for almost 18 years, received a BikeTexas Champion Award for Lifetime Achievement for Advancing Cycling through Persistence and Building Trust. He has worked at the state and regional levels to better accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians on state facilities, including coordinating within TxDOT to adopt a new seal coat policy.
• Durwood Mayfield, a longtime member of the West Texas Cycling Association and former BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Regional Outreach Coordinator, was honored for his work with a BikeTexas Champion Award for Lifetime Achievement for all around advocacy, from trail building to citizen lobbying at the local, state and federal levels.
• Annie Melton, who has given so much of her time and energy to local and state bicycle and trail organizations, including BikeTexas and the Texas Trails Network, also received a BikeTexas Champion Award for Lifetime Achievement for her professional work in Trail Design as President of Bowman-Melton Associates, Inc.

Photos, l-r: BikeTexas Board Member Bill Shea, Annie Melton, BikeTexas Executive Director Robin Stallings; Robin Stallings, Durwood Mayfield; Leslie Luciano, Paul Douglas