Saddling up to show support

Apr 4 2008 by Richard Fletcher, Chester Chronicle

Saddling up to show support

CHRISTMAS is coming for Chester Rugby Club as they gear up for their Twickenham showdown. It’s been a team effort to get to the EDF Intermediate Cup final, but the club’s fixtures secretary wants to go further – 207 miles further, to be precise.

In a show of support for the team, Martin Christmas will spend two days cycling down to the home of rugby.

Martin, 35, said: “I’m quite apprehensive but if I think about it too much I’ll start panicking!

“I’m sure I’m going to make it but as to what kind of state I’ll be in is a different story. There’ll probably be some swearing and gritted teeth on the way.”

Martin is hoping the ride will raise £1,000 towards some much-needed extensions to the club’s changing rooms.

A keen cyclist, Martin takes part in the Rudy Project series of cycle races as a disabled cyclist, after a road accident in 2002 cut short his rugby career.

He said: “I wanted to do something active myself and the only thing I could find to do was cycling.

“I thought it’s the one thing I can do, so if I’m going to raise money I’ll do that.”

The accident means the engineering sales manager cannot completely bend his left knee, but will use a specially adapted Trek bike to navigate the minor roads down to the capital.

Last year Martin cycled from Twickenham to Paris for Scope but, in a group, they had three days to do it.

For his Twickenham challenge, Martin will start out at 8am next Thursday and hopes to arrive on Friday at 5pm.

The journey will involve a stop at Stratford – 111 miles from his home in Guilden Sutton near Chester’s Hare Lane ground.

Martin added: “There’s no support car – they’ll meet me down there!”

His ride has been organised at the last minute as Martin and his club-mates had banned themselves from talking about Twickenham in case they jinxed it. But a friend doing a sports science masters degree at Chester University is helping him prepare.

Martin is still looking for sponsorship, and anyone who can help can contact him on crufcfixtures@aol.com