Nurses to saddle up for Rockies challenge
THREE local nurses will be heading to the Canadian Rockies in June for a gruelling maracycle in aid of Marie Curie Care.
Craigavon Area Hospital-based midwives Rowena Caddell and Sadie Porter, and disability nurse Pam Matchett, who works in the community visiting people in their homes, are employed by the Southern Health Board.
Rowena and Sadie are no strangers to challenges on wheels, having supported previous Marie Curie fundraising ventures. Both have cycled from London to Paris and from Gdansk to Warsaw. But even by their standards, this promises to be significantly more challenging than anything they have done in the past.
That being the case, spare a thought for Pam, who will be making her debut as an on-wheels Marie Curie Care supporter.
In the past her role has been to work as a fundraising overseer for the others. This time, however, she too will be getting on her bike.
“This will be my first time and to start with a challenge as tough as this really is going to be a case of in at the deep end,” she said. “But it’s for a very deserving charity, so it will well worth the effort.”
Asked about her training in preparation for their late-June departure, she said, “The three of us cycled a lot from April to October 2008. Since then it has been indoor work. I’ve been a member of Club NRG at Chambers Park for years, so I have been attending studio spin classes and doing quite a lot of weights work.
“It’s all designed to build up our thigh muscles and provide a good regular cardiac work-out, say three times a week.
“And now, with the weather improving, we’ll be taking to the road on our bikes again. It’s all about stamina, really.”
The six-day test of physical and mental strength and durability will include two in which they cycle 100km (62.14 miles) and 103km (64 miles). They will also pedal to points 6,785 feet and 6,742 feet above sea-level. To put that into context, the peak of Slieve Donard - Northern Ireland’s highest point - is 2,785 feet.
The trio’s testing itinerary is as follows:
Day one - Fly from London to Calgary and transfer to Canmore.
Day two - Cycle from Canmore to Banff (63km). Undulating terrain to Banff National Park, taking in a circular loop of Lake Minnewanka.
Day three - Cycle from Banff to Lake Louise (100km). This is moving higher up into the Rockies, finishing with a loop around Lake Louise.
Day four - Cycle from Lake Louise to Saskatchewan Crossing (81km). Along the Icefields parkway - a steep climb to 2,068m - before descending.
Day five - Cycle from Saskatchewan Crossing to Columbia Icefield (50km). Initially a long uphill section towards the Sunwapta Pass (2,055m). Take in the Columbia Icefield and stay overnight at the Columbia Icefield chalet.
Day six - Cycle from Columbia Icefield to Jasper (103km). A day of less gruelling terrain and long downhill sections along the Icefield Parkway, finishing in Jasper for lunch.
Total distance - 397km.
With the girls - each in their ‘early 40s’ - required to raise 3,000 each before being permitted to participate, they have been busily pursuing several channels of support. To date they have raised 4,000 of the 9,000 target, with bag-packing at local supermarkets by far the most productive method. On a good day that can be worth as much as 1,000.
“The supermarkets - Sainsburys, Tesco and P&G Family Foods - have all been very good to us,” Pam said. “Of course, I’d already discovered this on earlier occasions when I was looking after fundraising for Rowena and Sadie.
“People are very generous and the supermarket managers and staff couldn’t be more helpful. We also receive a lot of help from Portadown College students, and from our families and friends.
“All of this support is vital as there has to be an alternative to coffee mornings. There are only so many of you can stage. You can’t go on asking the same people to go on drinking cofee and eating tray-bakes indefinitely!”
As an incentive to encourage further donations, the nurses have teamed up with Continental Airlines who are donating a prize of two free flights from Belfast to New York. Everyone making a donation of 5 or more will be entered into the draw for that.
In addition you can make online donations at http://www.justgiving.com/rowenacaddell
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Weather for Portadown
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
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Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
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