Winners of Barclays 'London by Bike' competition revealed (+ gallery)

A picture of a lone cyclist in Richmond Park and one of a cyclist riding along the South Bank close to the London Eye with Big Ben in the background have won first place in the professional and amateur categories, respectively, in the Barclays 'London by Bike' competition, which attracted more than 1,000 entries.

The pictures taken by Thomas Casey, of Islington, winner of the professional category, and Kris Matyskiewicz from Watford, whose photo was judged the best amateur entry in the competition, which was held on the Barclays Bikes Facebook page, will be turned into postcards that will be distributed via 300 branches of the bank in London and the South East.

Both win a luxury London cycling weekend prize package which includes £1,500 of cycling equipment, being put up in a five star hotel and a meal at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park.

Entries were judged by a panel including the photographer Nick Turpin, one of the prime movers behind the street photography movement in the UK, Tim Arthur, Editor-in-Chief of Time Out and Richard Ainsworth, London Evening Standard Homes & Property Picture Editor.

Commenting on the pictures submitted to the competition, Turpin said: “We were astounded by the quality of entries to the Barclays London by Bike competition – clearly there are a lot of passionate Londoners out there who love snapping those special moments that can only be discovered on a bike. Our winner’s photographs really captured the beauty of cycling in the capital and inspired others to do the same.”

Seasoned photographers and cycling enthusiasts alike with an eye for a good shot were invited to enter via the “Barclays Bikes” Facebook page with an image that reflected cycling in London.

Ashok Vaswani, CEO Barclays UK Retail and Business Banking, added: “As the sponsor of Barclays Cycle Hire and Barclays Cycle Superhighways we are committed to improving how people travel around the capital, and are delighted with the success of the ‘London by Bike’ competition. The standard of entries celebrating cycling in London was outstanding and I’d like to congratulate the winners, and look forward to seeing their images across our branches.”

Some of the highly commended entries can be seen in the gallery above, and other pictures can be found on the Barclays Bikes Facebook page.

www.facebook.com/BarclaysBikes