More than a charity ride

Forty -four cyclists embarked on a 400 kilometer charity ride from Colombo to Jaffna on February 27 under the ‘Ride for Ceylon’ banner. Their sole aim being to raise funds for the Green memorial hospital, Manipay, Jaffna.

Since 2017, back when the ride first took off under the slogan ‘Ride for Charity’, it has been able to raise approximately 70,000 GBP (Rs. 16,559,827 approx). This year as of March 4, despite the target being 15,000GBP, the riders were able to raise almost 60,000 GBP, we are told.

We got the chance to speak with David Rasiah, a committee member of ‘Ride for Ceylon’. David tells us ‘Ride for Ceylon’ is the face of the charity, ‘Friends of Manipay Hospital.’ The ride itself is the brainchild of a group of Thomian Old Boys, who met up once at a stag night. Gerald Simons, an old boy, was a keen cyclist and had put forward the idea.

At this point Michael Arnold, also an old Thomian, who had connections to the Manipay area in Jaffna and whose cousins are the trustees of ‘Friends for Manipay Hospital,’ thought of conducting the ride to raise funds for the hospital.

It was this first ride that opened their eyes to what the hospital needed and that’s when they realized something had to be done. “I saw hardened guys shed a tear after seeing the plight of people in the hospital. We thought we’ll make it an annual