British cyclists raise money for local schools

THREE British cyclists, who rode a 6, 000-mile journey in 66 days across 12 countries to raise 80,000 pounds (about Rwf76m) to help procure sports equipment for 140 schools in Rwanda, arrived in the country on Monday afternoon.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012
The three riders at the British High Commission in Kigali. The New Times/Courtesy.

THREE British cyclists, who rode a 6, 000-mile journey in 66 days across 12 countries to raise 80,000 pounds (about Rwf76m) to help procure sports equipment for 140 schools in Rwanda, arrived in the country on Monday afternoon.Thirty-one year old Pete White from Bury, Pete Goodwin, 28 from Colchester, Julian Claxton, 28 from Lowestoft, have so far raised more than 10,000 pounds and hope to raise the rest before the year ends.Pete White, a senior planning officer at St Edmundsbury Borough Council, says his major reasons of embarking on such a noble cause is to "make a difference, albeit in a small way to the people of Rwanda who have experienced such unimaginable horrors and hardship in the very recent past.”As part of the trio’s support towards the development of Rwanda’s sport, they are scheduled to take two members of the Olympics bound team, namely Alphosine Agahoza (Swimming) and Freddy Sekamana Yannick (Judo), for a pre-games training camp in Edinburg-London. They are set to leave tomorrow.Rwanda is expected to send a 50-man contingent consisting of 25 Olympic delegation members and a 25 strong Paralympics team. The majority of the team is expected to leave on July 12.The Paralympics commence on August 29 through September 9 in London.The country will have 11 athletes drawn from athletics, boxing, cycling, judo, swimming and Taekwondo, with seven officials, while five other officials will come from the Olympic committee.