Skip to main content

LONDON TO PARIS FOR CHILDREN WITH MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY













On May 31 2013, I will be riding London to Paris with Channel 4 News presenters Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Jon Snow and a host of friends and colleagues.
Here's my donation page: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/fabrizioviani1
The start will be at the Channel 4 HQ in London and we'll be heading to Newhaven, then by ferry to Dieppe, then another leg to Paris.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G-zzBfGBts
The reason for this ride is to raise money and awareness for the Duchenne Children's Trust: http://www.dc-trust.org/about/about-us/

This type of muscular dystrophy affects children and is 100% fatal. With enough research, within 10 years it could be eradicated. Research costs money.

A former colleague, Emily, founded this Trust with her husband Nick, when their son was diagnosed with Duchenne. These are her words:
“When Eli was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy we were totally stunned – and devastated beyond words. The doctors gave us no hope. But we threw ourselves into the science of the disease, and discovered that in fact, many in the field of Duchenne believe that we are within reach of a substantial treatment and possible cure for this disease. In the months following his diagnosis we met the world’s leading scientists, academics and researchers in this field. And they are united in their belief that treatments and a cure are within arms reach. And then we realised that we couldn’t just be passive in this situation, just standing by waiting for the good news to trickle in. We want to be doing everything we can to support the research that is going on – and speed up the time it takes for what’s going on in the labs to translate into medicines for our children.Our mission quite simply is to raise money to give to the best global research effort – to fund a treatment or cure in time to save Eli’s life and the hundreds of thousands of other boys like him.”
While the challenge itself is not gruelling for seasoned cyclists, some of the riders coming along don't have a lot of experience in these sort of distances. In any case the challenge is in making people aware of this disease and being able to raise as much money as possible.
Please donate here:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

OLYMPICS, DOPERS AND LIFE BANS

A lifetime Olympic ban for dopers is a duty. Unlike in various sports' federations, the Olympics has a specific message to deliver and allowing dopers back into the fold goes against those values. The Olympics was created with the ethos of peace and inclusion. In Ancient Greece, wars stopped for the duration of the games, enemies faced each other in healthy competitions instead of throwing weapons at each other. The purpose, to get a glimpse of equality in the eyes of the Gods, recharging and motivating patriotism by the inclusion of all. The Games have values, of freedom, peace and above all respect. It was not meant to be for professionals to take part, but money talks and professionals are invited to take part. Money has ruined the Olympics as it has created a commercial monster, aimed at companies' wealth and trade. That has brought fierce competition which has pushed doping to stellar heights to gain results. The only way to try retain the original spirit is to stop...

AN OLYMPIC EFFORT

When the Olympic cycling road race and TT race routes were announced I was extremely excited. I live bang in the middle of both. One of the most important races in cycling was going to be ridden near my house. Television screens would be filled with images of roads I'm familiar with, the pros will be riding my commute to work AND some of my cycling club runs' routes (Kingston Wheelers).

TELEGRAPH, BAD WRITING AND THE IGNORANCE AROUND CYCLING

When I read the Telegraph's article  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/recreational-cycling/10323653/War-declared-on-the-Lycra-louts-on-wheels.html  , I let it go. I simply regarded it as yet another example of pretentious journalism, with a cheap sensationalist headline. But this morning something happened on my commute to work and I hold journalism like that responsible for it.