St Neots Market Square was bristling with close on 50 riders from St Neots CC, St Ives CC and others all out to help raise money for the Philippine Disaster Fund. The ride was suggested by St Neots CC member, Jonathan Pang.
Jonathan was joined by some Filipino friends who had travelled up from London that morning to be on the ride and by his family who were distributing Philippine flags for the riders to wear to acknowledge the purpose of the ride.
The ride had been put together at very short notice and our thanks go to Mark Colmer and Andy McEvoy for designing a route, inviting St Ives CC to join with us and for arranging the feed station at Hargrave Village Hall (who kindly donated the Hall for free). Special mention also to Waitrose for donating bananas for the feed station. The feed station came in for special mention as being one of the highlights of the event, if not the highlight.
We were delighted that St Ives CC agreed to join us for this ride (you can see their report here) and to see the Market Square covered in their red as well as the green, white and black of SNCC.
It was very good to see former St Neots CC member and frequent trophy winner Gary Stevens, now a member of St Ives CC join us on the ride today and our own Richard Wales wearing his old St Ives colours to welcome his former riding friends.
Mark welcomed and thanked all the riders for attending and then suggested that we leave in mixed groups with the faster riders away first.
Mr and Mrs Rodley from SNCC turned up on their tandem and they certainly maintained a good pace especially on the flat and downhills.
The feed station in Hargrave was very busy and many were reluctant to leave the warmth and comfort of the Hall to complete the ride. The excellent news is that as a result of everyone's generosity £453 was collected in donations on the day which was a fantastic response for the Disaster Fund. Overall, Jonathan's Just Giving Philippines page, with the proceeds of this event, the Awards dinner and other donations to the page, currently stands at £1,650 so a brilliant effort all round.
A very different day for both clubs, however the overall consensus was that it was a very worthwhile and enjoyable event and one that we should seek to repeat.