All,
Thanksto everyone who took part yesterday whether Cycling Running or Walking, thewhole day went amazingly well and more importantly everyone returned safely,from early on Sunday morning it was clear we were going to have perfect weatherfor the day, breakfast at Templar House for those who managed the early calland then down to Temple Station to meet up with the everyone else were we had asurprise visit from Barry and his wife Sheri, it was great to see Barry out andabout and I hope it gave him as much of a lift as it did those of us takingpart.
The3 runners Scott Mundy, Karl Chan and Kevin Waddup started us off just after 9am,the walkers(16) set off in the opposite direction whilst the Cyclists startedoff anti clockwise, it was a mixed bunch on the bikes from the youngest (10yrs)Billy (Whizz) Humberstone to I presume the oldest Mr Duffy or my Friend Pete Drummyboth in there early 50’s, there was also the fit, not so fit and those ofus somewhere in between, it was also a day for friends, family and workcolleagues to come together and support a worthwhile cause and have some fun,my son Jacob(6yrs) was very disappointed when I told him he could not take partas a cyclist but he helped out on the recovery vehicle’s with Chris andMax, my daughter Rebecca(11yrs) joined the cyclists and Mark’sdaughter(13yrs) as well as his son also joined the cyclists, other people alsobrought there offspring along, Paul’s son Luke, Tony’s son Joe andJoe’s two boys Paul and Mark.
Arelentless pace was set from the off by Mark’s son Billy, hence thenickname and he soon had some of us toiling at the back as hard as we tried wecould not keep him rained in for long, everyone gave there best effort and I amhappy to say we all completed with only a few minor mishaps along the way, abusted chain at Kings Cross (happy to say our recovery vehicles played therepart and this participant was soon back on the road thanks to some help fromStevie Gipps) and the only other was when our relentless pacesetter missed a rightturn and took three quarters of the cyclists half way down Kensington Road andI spent 10min like a demented sheep dog cycling up and down the road trying tocall them all back but eventually we were all back on track and completed thecycle in just over 2hrs, I think the runners beat us all back and it was agreat sight when they came in to view at various stages of there run we wereable to offer them plenty of encouragement as we all travelled round the route.
Itwas a superb performance by everyone who took part but special praise for thosewho may have found it more difficult than others, no one gave up and the overwhelmingverdict was that the day was a huge success(I hope), in fact it was such agreat day everyone wants to do it again next year, some seemed genuinely disappointedwhen I said I was planning to organise it for the following year 2013 due tothe Olympics being next year, after checking the dates it seems this will notbe the case, so if everyone is still as keen as yesterday then I am only tohappy to do it all again so put a date in your diary for 23rd of September 2013.
Ona personal note, I also had a surprise visitor on Sunday, I had a phone callfrom my cousin Pat McEwan at 08.45am, he was waiting at Temple Station with hisbike to join us, he was working in Portsmouth and received the information fromhis brother and caught the train up to London on Sunday morning, after theCycle ride he handed me an envelope with £300 he had raised from the guys heworked with and his brother Anthony.
Congratulationsto everyone who took part on Sunday, you all deserve a huge round of applause,I apologise if I missed anyone out with my little speech on Sunday, I was alittle overwhelmed by the response everyone has given, I had planned it betterbut for me it was along day and after 1 beer I was almost finished.
Currenttotal collected so far £9,632, from what people told me yesterday we will goway over £10,000, once everything is collected I will let everyone know howmuch we raised and from where, also the auction is ongoing as yet I still don’thave everything that will be auctioned but as soon as I know you will.
EDIT- I still have just over £100 to collect
SamMcEwan
LULConstruction Supervisor
CivilsMaintenance
SSRDistrict West also Wimbledon and Richmond Branch
Templar House, 2nd Floor, Holborn Wing
81-87 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6NU