The Ride the 1965 Ride is an initiative of the Class of ’65 old boys from Queen’s College in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. This is a cycle tour from and to Queenstown, spanning some 850km over 8 days. All cyclists pay an entry fee and the money raised goes towards a bursary fund for deserving students who wish to board at Queen’s College.
BIB joined forces with the Ride the 1965 Ride team, by sponsoring the insurance on the support vehicles for the duration of the event.
Tony Frost, a BIB client involved in the race, had this to say about this year’s event:”We had a most successful and happy cycle tour to Queenstown this year! We more than doubled the numbers that rode in 2011 and while we have not yet done a fully reconciled accounting of the total raised I am sure that it will also be considerably up on last year.
This is a really important point because while the 1965Ride itself is an important awareness-raising event the real purpose is to give talented youngsters the educational opportunity of a lifetime. For the first time this year we have had support and participation from and Old Girls from Queenstown Girl’s High School in the event. This is in line with the vision of the Queen’s College Foundation to transform education in the Queenstown district. This would simply not be possible without the help and support of organizations such as yours.
Before I get to thanking you for the sponsorship let me give you a quick synopsis of the high points of our journey:
Firstly the organization and all the logistics went extremely well.
The fact that we had a paramedic travel with us this year was enormously important.
All the accommodation worked well. We had a great deal of fun and nobody lost weight because we seemed to eat at every opportunity. The best meals we had were at the Spur Restaurants in Bethlehem, Aliwal North and Queenstown. The food everywhere however was universally good and we were very well cared for at each venue.
The welcome we received when we wheeled into Queenstown was little short of amazing! The exposure and support was simply wonderful. The number of townsfolk and the enthusiasm of all three schools at the finish was simply great!
We are truly grateful to you and BIB for the Insurance of our support vehicles and support, particularly your personal support and encouragement. It means a great deal to us. We realized last year and even more so this year that without the help of good support vehicles, a superb support team and proper emergency medical support a ride like this could become something not far short of a nightmare! This was particularly evident this year when one of our riders had a bit of a heart scare.We certainly hope that you will be happy to continue supporting us in 2013 and beyond!
Once again many thanks
Tony”
We look forward to this event growing from strength to strength in the years to come!