Cyclists back MS awareness
People choose to Bike the Bridge for many different reasons, and that’s the same for its many celebrity riders.
This Sunday’s cycle ride, which includes several options, is to raise awareness and funds for Multiple Sclerosis Auckland.
For Northern Mystics netballer Katherine Coffin, it will be an important milestone in her rehabilitation from a troublesome knee injury as she attempts the full 105-kilometre course.
‘ ‘ At first, I found it really uncomfortable sitting on a bike seat,’’ she says. ‘‘I decided to learn to road cycle by myself and have not taken the easy option of asking someone to teach me how to do it. Recognising that people who suffer from MS have their own struggle, I decided that this would be mine. Learning to cycle on the road and getting used to changing gears has been difficult, but I’m getting there.’’
Former Tall Blacks and Breakers basketball star Paul Henare has gone back into retirement after hitting the court again earlier this year to help his Southland Sharks side deal with a player shortage. He still keeps himself in good shape, regularly cycling the 8km route to work at Breakers headquarters, where these days he is the assistant coach.
He entered Bike the Bridge to help raise awareness of multiple sclerosis (MS).
‘‘It’s great that I’m able to use my profile to help out with events like this,’’ he says.
‘‘Bike the Bridge is about raising money for a great cause, multiple sclerosis, and I’m really pleased to be able to help out.
‘‘I’m really looking forward to the day as it should be great fun.’’
Bike the Bridge is open to all cyclists, young and old, serious and social.
Courses suit all abilities, from the 105km circuit, a 50km midrange route or the short and sharp 20km distance.
Each route includes riding over the Auckland Harbour Bridge and the full length of the Northern Busway.
A wall of 98 buses will be used to form a solid barrier between Bike the Bridge entrants and vehicles using the bridge.
They will form a portable safety barrier that can be removed immediately once the last cyclist has passed through the 3.1km section of the course.
All participants cross the same finish line at the QBE Stadium, where primary school children ride on the closed ring road and toddlers can enjoy their own dedicated track inside the safe confines of the oval.
More than $170,000 has already raised for MS from the two events in 2011 and 2013.