The Road to Sofia team want to say a big thank you to our sponsors for their generous support for our cycling challenge in June.
Altogether, our wonderful supporters donated nearly £4,500. The first £3,000 has now been matched, for a grand total of £7,500 for the work of FSCI. Thank you so much for your wonderful support – the cycle team and everybody at FSCI is very grateful indeed.
We also want to say a big thank you to Niki, our support driver, and to RD Avery for covering the cost of our van for the week.
We claimed that the event would be a challenge, and it really turned out that way, with much higher than expected temperatures and strong headwinds combining with the far-from-easy route to ask real questions of the team’s fitness and determination. There’s not much fun in cycling when it’s 40°C… Thankfully, the high temperatures didn’t last all week, and the team was able to complete the ride without getting shrivelled to nothing.
Cycling highlights would have to include ascending the mountain to Buzludzha, and the subsequent descent of Shipka pass. We really enjoyed our time cycling through the fantastic Bulgarian countryside and were delighted to be able to finish up in Sofia after a testing, but safe ride over five days, nearly 600km and 6,000 metres of climbing.
It was good to visit some Houses of Opportunity along the way and meet the young residents. These young people grew up in institutions or uncaring families and were facing futures filled with poverty and exploitation. Thanks to the House of Opportunity, they can now look forward to lives filled with possibility and build something good for themselves and their children. Your donations will help these young people, and others like them, as well as contributing to FSCI’s Ukrainian refugee projects in Bulgaria.
So, from Alex, Rich, Boryana and Rich: Thank you again for taking an active interest in the challenge. We were really encouraged by the messages of support that we received from you, as well as your generosity.
Inspired? You can find out how to organise your own cycling fundraiser on behalf of FSCI here.