Our charity challenge: 280 km bike ride in 24 hours
Yes, it’s so unusual to see the article about a bike charity challenge in our blog! But this article is simply must be here! We are happy to work in the boating industry and deal with luxury yachts, but it’s even nicer to us to do good things that have nothing to do with luxury. And we’re pretty sure that the desire and readiness to do good does not depend on the nature of your business.
We are proud that PMYA Asia Managing Director Robert Hawkins during his visit to the UK decided to take up a charity challenge and do a bike ride to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), the largest paediatric children’s centre in the UK. For Robert, it was not just a charity, but also a personal challenge! He made a decision to cover a distance of 280 kilometres from his hometown of Poole (Dorset) to Cardiff (Wales) by his push bike in 24 hours! By the start of the bike ride Robert had managed to raise just under 2,500 British Pounds, this included the collection that was made at Poole Speedway stadium and his page which is still open for donations from everyone!
The bike ride was great! And what else could it be on a sunny summer day amidst the beautiful British countryside?! For the last 30 kilometres Robert joined the main organiser of the charity challenge event for GOSH and the current Speedway World Champion Tai Woffinden. Tai has set a goal to collect 100,000 GBP, and at the time of this writing, the goal is achieved by 63%. The British Speedway Grand Prix in Cardiff on July 12 was a great time to organise the charity bike ride. In order to participate in the bike ride one had to start up his or her personal donation page at justgiving.com, raise at least 100GBP for GOSH and join Tai on the day of the grand prix with his bicycle in Newport, which is 30 kilometres away from Cardiff.
The bike ride from Newport to Cardiff took about an hour, and then the happy speedway fans got a unique chance to cycle directly into the Millenium Stadium where later on the most famous World Speedway Grand Prix Speedway was to be held! Around 100 lucky cyclists were able to complete an underground lap of the stadium complex, and also to do a couple of laps around the famous Cardiff speedway track and then step on the winners’ podium! And all this side by side with the world champion Tai Woffinden and other stars of speedway!
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) annually treats about 200,000 children with rare and serious diseases from all across the UK. For these children, the hospital is their last hope. The hospital needs to raise 50 million GBP every year for the needs of rebuilding, buying vital equipment and funding essential research. And it still relies heavily on public support.