Football to Amsterdam 2016 for Prostrate Cancer UK

[alexg18]

http://prostatecanceruk.org/get-involved/find-a-fundraising-event/football-to-amsterdam-2016

Hi All,

My friend and I must have had a moment of madness this weekend but we have signed up to take part in this next year raising money for Prostate Cancer UK. My friend believes he saw something recently showing a number of other Shrimpers who have also signed up. We wanted to see if this was true and if any were SZ member as we are both keen to meet others taking part and to see if we could join their "team" - discuss fundraising, getting Southend United involved etc.

Feel free to direct message me :thumbsup:

Thanks,
Alex

 

[woodbridge shrimper]

Well done for signing up. I did so two years ago and was one of 4 who did the ride in the Blues team.
The ride itself was a well organised and fun event if you imagine 160 miles in two days being fun.
Started off from the Orient and after the first hour of getting out of London outskirts it was a lovely ride through Essex villages. The second day a great ride along the Dutch Coast mainly on cycle paths. We had great weather which made it all the more enjoyable. It was great meeting other like minded people from different clubs all over the country and I still keep in contact with some of them I met 2 years ago. Micky Adams then manager of Port Vale was great entertainment and fun and had many of us in fits of laughter. Overall a great event and I'm sure you will enjoy it
However from my experience don't expect much support from the management and staff at Roots Hall. I was amazed at the lack of support considering I had responded to a request to support the Blues team in the event.i was quite used to fundraising events and wanted to get the club involved and suggested various was in which to get fans involved and fundraising for this good cause. Most of my ideas were not taken up by the club. The only thing that I did get them to agree to was a picture on the pitch at half time in normal clothing at one of the home games and a small article in one of the programmes. I had suggested that the four of us should be on the pitch at half time with our bikes and in our cycling gear to draw attention to the event rather than just 4 guys dressed in civvies. I was told this was to difficult to organise.
i wrote to Phil Brown and the players and asked for sponsorship for the event. Did not even have the courtesy of a response and when I spoke to the club secretary was told they were far too busy on other things.
At the last resort I asked if the club if they could provide the 4 of us with a blues shirt each so we could all be wearing club colours. No this was not possible as the club did not control the sale of shirts. the other 3 riders all friends and one being a director of the football club said they we riding in their normal cycling tops which happened to be black. I could not believe it that we were supporting the blues and yet these three we wearing black. As I said to Steve our chief executive When have we ever been called the Blacks. As a result I got and paid for my own blue cycling shirt and had the blues badge and logo printed on it
Many of the other clubs involved had done so much to assist the riders both in fundraising and support for the event.
Bradford provided all the coordinated tops and shorts in Bantam colours and also provided the 4 racing bikes for the event. The team from Scunthorpe we that the football club would take care of all the sponsorship and they were happy that the riders were doing their part in representing the club by taking part in the event.This was the case with many other clubs .
So in essence I was very disappointed with the support from our club and as. Result would not do it again.
I raised over £1700 from friends and colleagues which was quite a challenge and is not something I could ask to do again.
Sorry to put a downer on the club that I have supported for over 55 years but I was so disappointed at the clubs response.
The team of 4 from the Blues was the first team to cross the line at the Ajax stadium and we had a picture to prove it but did this ever get a mention in the programme afterwards?
Enjoy the event and have a great couple of days meeting like minded football fans from across the country and let me know if you get any more help from the Blues than I did
Keep Cycling as they would say on Strictly