Hi All,
In addition to posting updates on the fundraising page, I will (hopefully) send weekly emails to advise of progress. If you look at the page (link below) you will see I have been posting every 3-4 days giving updates on training; worth reading!
On behalf of Craig, James, me and most importantly, Motor Neuron Disease Foundation New Zealand, many, many thanks to those of you who have already donated. Every dollar helps and is going to a great cause; remember donations are tax deductible and donors will receive a receipt directly from MND New Zealand. You will see several ‘Anonymous’ donations; most of those donors have actually advised me of their donation but wished to keep their names private; I will certainly respect that request for privacy but at the same time am pleased to know who the donors are.
Training has been going well and a variety of outdoor riding around Howick, Flat Bush, East Tamaki and Bucklands/Eastern Beaches. Indoor riding using a ‘Zwift’ ( www.zwift.com ) machine has been invaluable; plenty of variety in routes and difficulty but with the convenience of cycling at any time of day or night and best of all, staying dry when its raining outside!
Just to recap from an earlier email here are the details of what is coming up:
- Fly out of New Zealand on 14 May
- Cycle from San Francisco to New York (5,150 kilometres)
- We start from the Golden Gate Bridge on 18 May and ride into Central Park on 22 June.
- The purpose of the ride is to raise funds for Motor Neuron Disease NZ (to date in NZ three of us have collectively exceeded $22,000.00)
- There are also riders from the UK participating and their fundraising will go towards MND UK
- Cycle from San Francisco to New York (5,150 kilometres)
- We start from the Golden Gate Bridge on 18 May and ride into Central Park on 22 June.
- The purpose of the ride is to raise funds for Motor Neuron Disease NZ (to date in NZ three of us have collectively exceeded $22,000.00)
- There are also riders from the UK participating and their fundraising will go towards MND UK
Rather than go on here, below is a link to the fundraising page and there is a lot more background information on the organization behind the ride. Suffice to say it is rugby related and linked to Doddie Weir (ex Scotland and British Lions) who passed away from Motor Neuron Disease in 2022. Not sure if you recall but I participated in a Wellington to Auckland ride in 2017 and we raised funds for the Conductive Education charity (approximately $70,000.00); this ride has been organized along similar lines and by the same UK team lead by Peter Winterbottom (ex England and British Lions).
Anyway, hope you enjoy the read.
Link is:
Almost time to start packing!
Cheers,
Gerald Patterson