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| Richard Thorpe and Maureen Reihana at the RPM cycling class #6 on Thursday, November 19 with great support from the other participants in the class |
A charity ride with a
difference
Rotarian Richard Thorpe, who is President
Elect of the Rotary Club Botany East Tamaki in
Auckland, NZ, has been combining his passion for cycling with an annual
activity to raise awareness and funds to support his charity of choice. The
fight to eradicate the world of the deadly Polio virus.
Richard, a passionate cyclist
whose view of the perfect holiday is to cycle the Tour de France route, has for
the last few years used the Contact Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge race as an
opportunity to raise funds to fight through sponsoring his annual effort. Many
thousands of dollars have been raised as a result. However, this year work
commitments have taken him out of the country, so he refocused and found an
equally challenging substitute. With the support of the team at 24/7
Fitness at Auckland Airport he set his sights on
completing eight full hour long RPM high intensity indoor cycling classes in
six days from November 16 to 21.
“I usually try and do three RPM
classes a week, so this was quite a challenge to put in a top effort in each
class during the week”, Richard said adding, “the intensity and pain levels are
high, but the fulfilment in the end is awesome.”
Sponsorship raised $2500, and with
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matching this 2 to 1, Richard is
justifiably proud of the $7500 total that his efforts have contributed to The
Rotary Foundation’s global Polio Plus project this year.
“The most satisfying part of the
week was the support I received from 24/7 Fitness. Their Manager Maureen
Reihana took three of these classes and embraced my
challenge, put signs up around the gym to promote it, and this enthusiasm
spread to all the others doing the classes during the week. As well as raising
valuable sponsorship funds, I have managed to educate a lot of people about
Polio and the good work that Rotary has done with this Polio eradication
project for so many years.”
Side bar about
Polio:
Imagine a world free of deadly pandemic disease. People like
philanthropist Bill Gates and
Rotarians throughout the world do.
Rotary International has partnered with the World Health
Organisation (WHO), the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and many governments of the world in a
campaign to help eradicate the world of this deadly disease. In 1979 when the
first Polio vaccinations began, there were 125 countries infected with endemic
levels of Polio virus. Hundreds of thousands of people each year suffered
devastating sickness, paralysis, deformity of limbs and for a significant
number, ultimately death. A simple vaccine however has changed this picture and
eradication is now in our sights.
Since 1979 the combined global vaccination efforts have
reduced the spread of Polio virus. Afganistan and Pakistan, with their warzone
borders, now remain the last two countries with significant levels of the wild
Polio virus. As with all disease, it can be easily spread if precautions are
not put in place and Rotary along with its partners remain hard at work
supporting the vaccination programs globally. Bill Gates fronts a popular
campaign holding up his hand with a small gap between his thumb and forefinger.
“We’re this close”, Rotarian Richard Thorpe says to eradicating Polio. This
will only be the second such virus to be eliminated since the WHO declared the
world free of Smallpox in 1980.
Words: Assistant Governor Mike Jaggs, of the Rotary Club of
Botany East Tamaki, NZ
Photos: President Elect Richard Thorpe, of the Rotary Club
of Botany East Tamaki, NZ
