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Thursday 4th June 2009
(bruised buttocks!)
HELP FOR HEROES BIKE RIDE CHALLENGE
In May this year, 275 Help for Heroes cyclists,
including a team from the Tri service rehabilitation
centre at Headley Court , cycled through the
battlefields of Northern France to link the actions of
servicemen and women of the past with those of today.
Sgt George Pal of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards
was part of the team that completed the event that saw
him travel 370+ miles over 6 days via Portsmouth to
Cherbourg, Cherbourg to Bayeux, Bayeux to Caen, Caen to
Lisieux, Liseux to Evreux and Evreux to Paris. He
completed the event at the monumental ‘ Eifel Tower ’,
taking 20 hours and 43 minutes cycling time.
We talked to Sgt Pal on his return from the event;
‘I was fully prepared for the event, and trained to
ensure I was fit enough not to hinder the rest of the
team. What I wasn’t prepared for was the emotional
aspect of the challenge. When you see personnel that
have been injured in the line of duty, pushing on with
so much grit and determination (some of them in wheel
chairs) it certainly drives home what this challenge was
all about.’
The team involved in the HUGE event ranged from retired
and serving soldiers and Officers to Mums of soldiers
currently on operations and girls that were soon to join
the Armed Forces, all of which had a purpose to complete
the challenge, to try and raise £1million for Help the
Heroes.
Sgt Pal also spoke about meeting an old acquaintance;
‘Half way around I bumped into an old friend, Mr Stuart
Blacker, who was my old Platoon Commander for a Belfast
Tour in 1996 with Number 7 Company. But that didn’t stop
anyone talking to people they didn’t know and everyone
on the event bonded for the task ahead.’
During the event, Sgt Pal also had a narrow escape!
‘At times during the event, you would find yourself
alone and I was coming around a corner on a hill in
France at about 30mph when I truck was coming straight
at me. I had to swerve into the bushes that were lining
the road, with the vehicle missing me by inches.
Luckily, all I had was a cracked helmet and a few
bruises, and the truck never stopped!’
The event finished on the Friday where all were greeted
by a Sun-Bus (provided by the squaddies favourite paper,
the sun), a couple of (clothed) page three girls, locals
and family & friends that had travelled over to welcome
us in. All travelled back to the UK on Saturday, via
Eurostar to save their bruised buttocks!
Sgt Pal has set up a page on just-giving where anyone
wishing to donate can do so. He was hoping to raise
£2,000 to go towards the appeal and at the time of
writing this article is just short of this amount.
If you would like to help and donate to this appeal, you
can do so at:
www.justgiving.com/thomaspal
Well done George
You can read more about this event and other ‘Help for
Heroes’ events online at:
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
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