Ride for 75: Kingston Hospital Fundraiser

3rd February 2023

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Ride for 75: Kingston Hospital Fundraiser

To mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS in 2023, we have joined forces with cycling clubs in Kingston to raise money to support the staff at Kingston Hospital.

From Saturday 25th February club members will be taking on the Ride for 75 challenge to raise money for Kingston Hospital Charity, which is seeking to raise £35,000 for a new secure bike storage facility for hospital staff.

Tim Lawn, Chairman of Kingston Wheelers says;

As a club, we are really proud to be helping Kingston Hospital Charity and to support the staff that do such a fantastic job.

Many of the staff rely on cycling to get to work and the current facility is not a secure unit, resulting in staff bikes getting stolen on a regular basis.

The new secure unit will be available to all hospital staff and will include 78 bays for bike parking, which will be available 24 hours per day for staff on shift work.

Tracey Shaw, Fundraising Manager at Kingston Hospital Charity says:

We’re incredibly grateful to Kingston Wheelers and the cycling community for organising this event to celebrate our NHS milestone birthday. A safe and secure bike unit will make a huge difference to our staff, many of whom are exhausted as they cope with huge patient-backlogs. Projects like this could not happen without the support of our community so a heartfelt thanks to everyone involved and supporting the event.

The challenge is open to everyone and will launch on 25th February with an event on the virtual cycling platform Zwift. Cyclists can also create their own version of the challenge, whether that’s riding 75 miles for the first time, or lapping Richmond Park on a Boris bike.

Big thanks to all the local businesses supporting who have provided prizes for a raffle for anyone who donates. Prizes include a full bike service from Balfe’s Bikes, coffee experience with Chimney Fire Coffee, £100 voucher for Sigma Sports and Taproom Tasting at the Park Brewery.

Donations can be made on via our Just Giving page.

Zwiftathon

Join us for a charity Zwiftathon on Saturday 25th February where we’ll be riding 75 miles on our turbo. From 9am to 5pm there will be host riders from the organising clubs in the ROBOPACER rides in the WATOPIA world on Zwift.

Group 1: YUMI on the Tick Tock route (faster, 2.9wkg)
Group 2: MIGUEL on the Triple Flat Loops route (slower, 1.8wkg)

Robopacer groups tend to be fast – you’ll benefit from the draft of others and eat up those miles super quick.

If you join these rides, you can also expect to see others riding the fundraiser challenge and be part of the community. If you want to just ride, that’s fine too!

All riders are encouraged to wear the Sigma Sports kit and have RIDEFOR75 as part of their on-screen name.

We’ll be live streaming the ride so be sure to follow the action on our social channels.

Prizes:

Big thanks to our partners Le Col and Sigma Sports for supplying prizes. There will be 4 x £50 Sigma voucher and Le Col socks up for grabs for the following: