Cyclists back to heroes' welcome

The Life Cycle challenge team were yesterday given a heroes' welcome on their arrival at Malta International Airport with family and friends greeting them with Well Done posters and applause as soon as they entered the arrivals lounge wearing their white and orange t-shirts.

The team - 37 challengers and a back-up of 16 - crossed 1,800 kilometres from Budapest to Athens in 10 days.

Two of the cyclists, David Serge and Mark Leonard Grech, could not complete the challenge because of injuries.

Mr Serge fell off his bike on the first day, dislocating his shoulder. He said yesterday he was cycling at 40 kilometres an hour and turned to see whether there were any cars, fell and flew off his bike.

He dislocated his shoulder and his glasses broke in his face resulting in a wound above his eye that had to be sutured. He also suffered other minor injuries.

Mr Serge said he spent about 45 minutes with his team mates on the floor until an ambulance arrived. He was then taken to hospital, half an hour away, and it took another half an hour in hospital to put his shoulder back in place and suture his face wound.

He arrived at MIA yesterday still wearing his support but this incident has definitely not put him off the challenge.

"I said I would participate in this year's challenge while I was filming last year's for Xarabank. I could not do it this year because of this freak accident but I will definitely be doing it next year," he promised.

Mr Grech had to stop after four days on the track because of an attack of Achilles tendonitis. But after three days with the back-up team, he rejoined the cyclists on the rest of the trip to Athens.

Alexandra Bonnici, who formed part of the back-up team this year after cycling the challenge for five years in a row, said the challenge route this year was one of the best.

"Greece, especially, was brilliant. And the welcome we were given by the country's authorities was outstanding. Traffic was stopped and we were escorted to the centre of the city by about 10 police cars," she said.

So will she be cycling again next year?

"Definitely. I will be cycling the route alternate years, joining the back-up team the rest of the time," she said.

The challenge came to an end on Wednesday evening with the team being escorted the last 40 kilometres to the Acropolis by the Greek police.

Tired but pleased with themselves, they enjoyed a well-deserved rest on Thursday before their return to Malta yesterday morning.

The Life Cycle Challenge was founded in 1999 with the aim of creating awareness and generating support for patients suffering from end-stage renal failure (chronic kidney disease).

It collects, circulates and publishes information promoting quality care for renal patients. It organises activities and collects funds in aid of the Renal Unit at St Luke's Hospital and organises awareness campaigns about the needs of renal patients. It also promotes organ donations.

Donations to Life Cycle may be made online, by cheque to Life Cycle Organisation c/o Renal Unit, at Lifecycle's bank accounts at HSBC and Bank of Valletta, or by sending a blank SMS on 5061 7351 (Lm1), 5061 8928 (Lm3) or 5061 9208 (Lm5).

www.lifecyclechallenge.com