Hundreds of cyclists will take to the streets this weekend as they ride between Kent’s football grounds to raise money for charity.
The Tour de Kent will see loads of keen cyclists take to their bikes as they ride between 21 football grounds inside three days to raise money for cardiac charities.
The ride is a 3-day sportive recognised by British Cycling that will start at Gillingham FC’s Priestfield Stadium on Saturday morning at 9:30am and tour the county visiting Margate, Deal, Dover, Maidstone, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Dartford as well as several other football grounds on the way.
The heart charities benefitting from the funds raised are CRY, a youth cardiac research charity, and Take Heart Mercy Mission.
Just some of those taking part include former Gills defender Connor Essam, midfielder Jack Payne, former manager Andy Hessenthaler and former Development Coach Mark Patterson.
The event has been organised by Roger Maddams, a cycling enthusiast with a special connection to the beneficiary charities.
Roger’s son Jack was a talented football player with Gillingham FC, Kent Schools, and England Schoolboys as well as Kent senior club Tonbridge Angels who died of a sudden heart attack in 2008.
In addition to a football career that saw Jack play alongside Manchester United’s Chris Smalling in the England ranks, Jack was a talented artist and following his death his work was exhibited at the Saatchi gallery in London.
The Jack Maddams stand at Tonbridge Angels is named in tribute to their former player.
Five years on, Roger has organised the Tour de Kent to combine his two passions, cycling and football, to raise money for cardiac research and interventions for young people.
The Tour de Kent takes place between Saturday and Monday with three participation options; ‘The First Leg’, a pleasant 15-mile ride from Gillingham FC’s Priestfield Stadium to Sittingbourne; ‘The Full Day’, a ride from Gillingham along the north Kent coast through to Margate visiting 6 football grounds on the way, or ‘The Lot!’, a 200-mile round trip visiting 21 football grounds in total.
‘The Lot!’ continues from day one with a Margate to Maidstone leg taking in Deal and Dover before a final day’s ride through the Weald of Kent around Sevenoaks, up to Dartford then returning to Gillingham. Overnight stays in Margate and Maidstone are included in the full 3-day event.
Roger has been promoting the tour around football grounds in Kent with bucket collections at matches throughout March and April and there are limited places left on the ride.
The ride has the full sportive backup: signage, GPX, medical, outrider, mechanical, food stop and baggage transport services will be on offer to those who sign up for the British Cycling supported ride at www.tourdekent13.co.uk
The ride even has its own flapjack, made by Kent based small business Jackernuts, and official cycling jersey from Foska. Medway Council are supporting the ride as part of Medway’s 2013 Festival of Sport’.
Having spent a lot of time organising the ride, Roger Maddams is hoping the people of Kent come out and support the cyclists as they go by:
“I’m optimistic that we are going to have a great time, raise awareness and raise some great money for two great charities.”
“This has basically taken over my life for the past six or seven months as there is a hell of a lot to do.”
“Our target is to raise £50,000 through sponsorship and through individual donations and that will go a long way to raising awareness and making a difference to some people’s lives.”
“The whole Kent football community have been fantastic and the Kent FA have been right behind us.”
“My wife and I have done a tour around the grounds raising awareness and they are all right behind the ride.”
“It’s been quite humbling to know that so many people want to be involved and help out.”
One of the charities the cyclists are raising funds for is CRY and one of their aims is to get as many people as possible screened with Roger explaining to KSN how he would love to see more young sports people get checked out:
“Our aim is to raise the money so we do screenings in Kent for people between 14 and 35 to basically detect heart conditions so that they don’t have the same trauma and heartache my family has gone through because of the loss of our son Jack.”
You can support the Tour de Kent in several ways; the easiest way to donate is by texting KENT53 and the amount you wish to donate, including the £ sign, to 70070 (e.g KENT53 £10 to 70070).
You can also donate online at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/tourdekent13
Full details of the ride can be found at www.tourdekent13.co.uk
Kent Sports News will be cycling with the Tour de Kent throughout the three days and you can follow their progress on our Twitter feed – @kentsportsnews