FUNDRAISERS hoping to cycle 187 miles in four days will hopefully see their hard work pay off in October. The journey will see three dedicated cyclists begin their journey at the Dead Sea in Amman, Jordan, and finish at the Red Sea, Aqaba.

The event is in union with the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) and will have the cyclists combating various terrains including a dried-up lake bed, the Amman-Baghdad highway, rough boulder-strewn trails and lonely desert tracks.

Training has already begun and is becoming more intense as the months progress. Ipswich born Paul Hayman, 30, initiated the trip after receiving an e-mail promoting the event. He said he was immediately hooked.

After ringing some friends he was able to secure two more participants, Paul Marshall, 32 and Rob Evans 37, both of whom said yes without hesitation.

Mr Marshall, who avoids describing himself as a “keen cyclist” said: “It’s easy to take things like our hearing and sight for granted and it’s important to remember those not so fortunate.”

The challenge will be much more personal for Mr Evans, however, after being born deaf.

It was not permanent and by the time he was five, he could hear but this fuelled his desire to help those in a similar situation.

On their four-day journe, the team will visit a number of locations, including the traditional site of the death of Moses, and will spend a night gazing at the stars and sleeping in a Bedouin tent.

The journey will culminate with a visit to a local deaf school and a celebratory meal in the evening.

Sponsors of Dead2Red are offered the opportunity to have their faces/logo/message printed on the team’s T-shirts, which will be worn by all three members.

A one-inch square costs £25 with more information available at Dead2Red.com

Source : Evening Star
Photograph : LUCY TAYLOR

A BT worker is preparing to take part in a gruelling charity bike ride through some of the toughest terrain in the world. Rob Evans, 37, is part of a trio of cyclists taking part in the Dead Sea to the Red Sea event – an epic four-day journey through Jordan.

Mr Evans and his fundraising companions, Paul Hayman, 30, and Paul Marshall, 32, will ride from Amman to Aquaba, covering 187 miles in four days.

They will cycle through a variety of landscapes, from a dried-up lake bed, rough bolderstrewn trails and isolated desert tracks, in aid of the National Deaf Children’s Society (NCDS).

To raise cash for the event, the cyclists are selling squares of advertising space on their Tshirts at £25 a time, as well as gaining sponsors individually.

Father-of-one Mr Evans, from Hollesley, near Woodbridge, said the trio hoped to raise a total of £10,000 between them.

“I’m quite an active person. I started cycling a few years ago but haven’t done anything this extreme,” he said.

“It’s going to be tough but I’m looking forward to it.” Mr Evans, a BT model manager, has already launched his training regime by cycling to work twice a week.

He intends to gradually build this up over the summer and will be covering 50 miles a day as he gets closer to the challenge, which will take place in October.

Companies or individuals wanting to sponsor the cyclists can visit http://dead2red.com/ for more information.

Source : East Anglian Daily Times
Photograph : SIMON PARKER