The Matthews Racing Across America and Pippa!

Dear Friends,

This Saturday, thirteen of us set off to Race Across America (RAAM).
Please take a look at this 2 minute film which gives a good idea what it’s all about:
Eight of us will be cycling in relay from the west coast Oceanside in California and finishing 8 days or so later on the east coast at Annapolis in Maryland.
The distance is approx 3 000 miles of cycling and so obviously we will be rolling along 24/7 in all weathers and across whatever terrain whilst crossing 12 states of the good old U.S.A. For further info: www.raceacrossamerica.org and the live tracking website is: http://www.tractalis.com/raam2014/
We are categorised as "RAAM 8 Person (Open) (9 teams)" and our team name is ‘Michael Matthews Foundation’. And you could download “Tractalis” app which will give live coverage of the team’s progress.

And there’s more!
The next project after the Race Across America is the Bosphorus Cross Continental Race swimming 6.5km through the currents from Asia to Europe on the 20th July. For further info http://bogazici.olimpiyat.org.tr/?dil=en


Son James the team and I are to give our all – and may we ask our fantastic friends to kindly consider supporting the Michael Matthews Foundation by making one donation to cover both events..? We will be very grateful.
Be assured the money goes directly and without a penny of deduction to build schools in remote places in Mike’s name. So far we’ve established two – one in Tanzania and one in Thailand which now are educating 200 kids who without a bit of a helping hand would have struggled to receive an education. Our hope going forwards is to build many more schools and with your generous help we ought to be able to achieve our work. www.michaelmatthewsfoundation.com

A few generous corporate sponsors (so far) and ourselves as team members - are covering all costs. So every pound / dollar / euro donated will go in its entirety to MMF and from there straight into educating hundreds more children in remote places in the world.
We believe that you might agree with us that only by the education of children might the world best move forwards to resolving some of the religious and racial difficulties now faced daily by our generation.

For your kind donations: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/raam2014

Thanks so much. Your committed help means a huge amount to us.

With kindest regards,


David & Jane Matthews and family


Eden Rock - St Barths


Tel: + 590 590 29 79 99
Fax: + 590 590 27 88 37
DAVIDANDJANE@EDENROCKHOTEL.COM
Eden Rock - St Barths
St Jean Bay, 97133 St Barthélemy,
www.edenrockhotel.com

Ouch, ouch, and ouch! I admire those greatly who are willing to sacrifice their bodies for this worthwhile cause.

[h=2]Pippa Middleton to trek across America[/h]



Sunday - 6/15/2014, 12:19am ET

In this 2012 file photo, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, right, speaks with her sister Pippa Middleton during the tennis championships at Wimbledon, England.


WASHINGTON-- Possibly the most popular little sister in the United Kingdom, Pippa Middleton, sister of Princess Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, will be breaking out on her own in America this week.
According to NBC 7 in San Diego, Pippa set out on an eight-person bicycle relay in the Race Across America (RAAM) Saturday. The annual charity trek set off at the Oceanside Pier in San Diego and is expected to run 3,0000 miles across the country, ending in Annapolis, Md., by June 24.
Pippa, 30, is expected to clock some 300 miles herself on the journey, which, according to the RAAM website, will cover 12 states and and climb a total of 170,000 feet.
She and her brother James, 27, are part of a team racing in part for the Michael Matthews Foundation. Matthews died at age 22 descending Mt. Everest after becoming the youngest Briton to reach the world's highest peak in 1994. The charity started in his memory works builds schools all over the globe.
According to the Daily Mail (UK), which boasts tons of pictures of Pippa and her fellow cyclists in their gear, the siblings have been training for eight months. Pippa is the only woman on the team, for which it costs about $20,000 each to participate.
The paper also said Matthew's brother James Matthews is a close friend of the Middleton family, and is riding alongside the siblings.

Follow along with their progress here:
http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/rcfrcast.php?s_N_Entry_IDx=3199&s_N_Year_ID=38

I note that David was smart enough to be driving the van and not riding a bike!

a very worthwhile effort, I urge everyone to make a small donation...

elgreaux said:

a very worthwhile effort, I urge everyone to make a small donation...

Click to expand...

:up:

In looking at the website for the race I discovered that a friend was on the crew so I sent her an email.

Annette, I see you listed as crew on the Michael Matthews Foundation team! How exciting it is to be part of this monumental undertaking! Please give my best regards to David and the entire team and I will see you in Annapolis in five days or so!

Thanks John and hello from Arizona (near Flagstaff)


It is hard going -to say the least. I am the team & crew cook and have only a small kitchenette from which to feed 14 of us!


Cannot believe it is only day 2...


Will pass your greetings on to David and the team - thanks so much


All thé best and thanks for the beautiful pic


Annette

Go, Pippa. 300 miles will be tough unless she's done plenty of training. Some of those 300 miles will likely be uphill and/or upwind.

Indeed.

[h=5]Race Across America[/h]24 minutes ago · Edited


CHRISTOPH DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE…AGAIN!
By Vic Armijo
June 18, 2014
City Dock, Annapolis, MD

The past year has gone well for Christoph Strasser. Just 12 months ago he achieved what many thought was impossible when he finished RAAM in 7 days, 22 hours and 11 minutes at an average speed of 15.56 mph to break Pete Penseyes’ record of 15.4 mph average speed set back in 1986. At 8:23 this morning Christoph Strasser did the impossible—again—by breaking his own record. He finished RAAM 2014 in a time of 7 days, 15 hour and 56 minutes with an average speed of 16.42 mph. This feat is all the more amazing considering that due to a couple of course changes this year’s route is 3,020 miles versus the 2013 course which was 2,962 miles.

Strasser’s record ride was no accident. He and his crew are among the best that have ever competed. His hand-picked team of close friends does everything efficiently and well without losing grasp of the fact that bicycle racing should be fun. They too deserve congratulations.








91 SharesLikeLike · · Share