This year Betfair Lifecycle Challenge 2009 will take a group of cyclists together with a back-up team for a journey of over 2000km. The venture will start from the Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey to Damascus in Syria. The committee has been working on this challenge on a voluntary basis having weekly meetings since November. The cyclists started their training on the 19th April 2009 and they will go through 17 weeks of training to build up both their physical and mental endurance required to complete such a feat. The venture is not an easy one but the cause makes it all worthwhile – the renal patients and the organ transplant group.

Having said this, nobody will gain without the help everybody gives to support our cause – be it the media, family, friends, those who generously give their time to help the organisation on a voluntary basis and last but not least those that sponsor the back-up team and cyclists. Our title sponsor this year, Betfair, is very generous and is being very supportive to our cause. The other sponsors – be it private organisations, and individuals via their donations are all vital for us as well. So please donate to our cause and help us help those in need. (See below)

History of Lifecycle Organisation

Lifecycle Mission Statement

"To raise money for life saving equipment in order to help persons suffering from renal failure and to raise awareness on organ transplants here in Malta"

The founder of Lifecycle organization is Mr Alan Curry, a personal trainer and qualified British Cycling Coach (NVQ Level 3). The concept for Lifecycle Challenge was initiated by his wife who unfortunately became a renal patient on Christmas 1998. As a sign of gratitude for all the dedication and care the Renal Unit within St Luke’s Hospital in G’ Mangia, now Mater Dei hospital, Mr Curry thought of collecting funds to help the patients within the Renal Unit. Hence the beginning of a truly massive venture from which so many patients were and will benefit from. The first ride took place in 1999 and Alan together with another 3 cyclists and a back up crew took off from Malta to UK venturing through Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland and finally Hayden Bridge near Newcastle, his home town. Their venture collected €128.150 which were used to acquire 4 kidney machines and 3 home machines for the renal patients. In the past 10 years Lifecycle Organisation has collected approximately €1,100,000. At the end of this year’s challenge, the Betfair Lifecycle Challenge 2009; Damascus-Silk Road and Beyond, the Lifecycle Organization would have visited a total of 25 countries in 11 years.

The sponsorships collected this year will go towards raising more awareness about kidney failure, acquiring expensive medicine for the patients, apparatus and installing internet access for patients so as to enable them to continue their office duties during the long hours of dialysis. An innovation for Lifecycle Organisation this year is the setting up of a research fund within the field of kidney failure.

QUOTE

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King Jr.

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