Words by Flyby
I put my name down last year for the Aviva walk for Breakthrough to Breast Cancer, but unfortunately was not able to take part due to other commitments at the time. I was totally gutted, especially as the most I got to do was turn up at the very end of the closing ceremony and pick my girlfriend up. I remember the atmosphere felt strange, a kind of satisfied sombreness! I couldn’t really understand it all, and as I listened to all the recollections of the weekend, I felt really disappointed that I wasn’t a part of it.
My girlfriends mum suffered from breast cancer and it’s something very close to her heart, so of course it’s also something I wanted to be very much involved in.
So, there we were, just a handful of people gathered together in a Safeway’s car park on the Old Kent Road at 5.30 in the morning. Nothing more than a huddle of half asleep bikers, most of us only having had three hours sleep at most, all getting ready to make our way to Richmond Park.
Next thing we knew we are pulling into Richmond Park to see the other 50 or so bikes all parked up in tandem and a swath of orange t-shirts obscuring the main entrance! I thought to myself inside my lid “This is it; now let’s get ready for the day to go mental”.
Boy oh boy, was that the understatement of the year!
All of the Orange T-shirts clad Londonbikers were ready to go. It began... start your engines and wait for the gaggle of clunks as everyone notches into gear, line up two by two, and the procession begins. Off through the park at a steady five mph, it was beautiful. There was still a light mist in the air and the deer were grazing at the brittle tufts, until we passed through like the rumble of a thunderstorm approaching.
We all set off to our posts, we manned them in groups, making sure that the walkers were able to cross safely and were directed the right way to continue on their way, all 44km of it. The 44km were to represent the 44,000 women that suffer from breast cancer each year! We all sent them on their way with claps, cheers and big smiles of encouragement; god knows they were going to need it.
We worked a leap frog system so we could fully allocate our resources to each post, so round came the sweepers to pick us up (after our bacon sarnie of course!) and we headed onto our second post, beeping the walkers as we past them.
It was an amazing experience to part of such a group, everyone took notice as we headed through London and we made sure everyone took notice of the walkers. Those guys and girls were incredible, it was heart warming to see that when we past and got their attention, they cheered us back.
For lunch we all met in Battersea Park, which gave us an opportunity to confirm our plans for the second half of the day while we could have a bite to eat. It didn’t last long before it was another procession two by two out of the park. Here we go again lads and lassies…
We drove all round London following the route of the walkers, beeping and cheering them all the way, just trying to give them that extra bit of encouragement to keep their spirits up. Wherever we could find suitable points we pulled up to give an extra hand, even it meant just bringing a smile to their face, though this lot had real guts and they worked blooming hard to say the least. Our last post was about five or six km from the finish line and a number of the walkers said it raised their spirits every time they saw an orange t-shirt or heard the roar of our bikes. It was real heartfelt thanks and I felt honoured to be a part of it.
We then all headed back to Regents Park for the closing ceremony. As we drove in we were cheered by the walkers and once parked in we could see walkers still coming through the finish line. We headed over there sharpish to give them all big rounds of applaud and congratulate them on completing such an immense task. I can put into words how it felt to be clapped and cheered by hundreds of people, they thought we were amazing! It was just awesome. There were people everywhere, a mixture of walkers, friends, family and just general ‘Joe public’. We got such applause; there was loads of hollering, clapping and whistling.
We congregated ready for the ceremony with all the walkers in pink in front of us. As they proceeded towards the stage the cheers were deafening. They are all such gutsy people. Everyone had their moment, and it was announced that the day had raised £1 million. What an achievement! There were a few speakers such as the leading lady from Breakthrough, some people involved with the charity and one of the scientists, explaining what the money was going towards. It was incredibly emotional and certainly choked us all up.
It had been such a long day and everyone involved was tired and exhausted and for many the emotion was overwhelming. There were walkers coming up to us and saying thank you, and if we weren’t there to provide such support they couldn’t have completed the walk. It drew tears to many. It made every one of us feel a great sense of togetherness and we were proud to have been members of londonbikers and to have been associated with Breakthrough. Thank you to everyone involved in the organisation of the day, as well as to every londonbiker who contributed their time and energy into what is a truly inspiring event. It will certainly stay with me for a long time as heart warming memory and I hope that we can all be involved in making this event bigger and stronger long into the future.
So to next year, 2008, we shall be there again alongside the walkers and it will be a day to remember for everyone, I know there are a lot of names that are already down on that registration form and we are all raring to go.
BCW #1
BCW #2
BCW #3
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