Noel Williams
Williams On Wheels for The Gaza Sunbirds!
Fundraising for Amos Trust
Story
Noel, Katy, and Megan are riding the Coast to Coast (C2C) in 3 days, and then Aidan, Megan and Noel are riding it back again in 1 day (S2S).
The Coast to Coast is a 135 mile (214km) bike ride from Whitehaven in Cumbria to Tynemouth on the east coast (over many lumps and bumps, and hopefully not against the wind in either direction please!).
We are fundraising for the very inspiring Gaza Sunbirds, one of Amos Trust partners, a paracycling team based in the Gaza Strip. The Sunbirds were working towards representing Palestine on a global stage, when the recent hostilities broke out, and they are now delivering aid to their communities in Gaza, on bikes.
They have distributed over 63 tonnes of aid, including meal packages, sanitary products and baby formula. They are also providing support to families with disabilities in the strip. If our ride gets tough we will be thinking about the Sunbirds for inspiration.
This April, 3 of the athletes managed to evacuate Gaza via the Rafah crossing in order to try to get wild card places to take part in September’s paralympics in Paris. They are now in Egypt, have resumed their training, are receiving psychosocial support and are working towards getting their visas to compete in the final qualifying races in Belgium or Italy.
“For us, just getting on the bike makes us feel amazing. It is essence of our soul. So despite the war, and despite the battered streets of Gaza, honestly I felt like there was no war because of how happy and content I was [on my bike].”
Abu Ali- Gaza Sunbirds athlete
The Sunbirds are working against all the odds, but we are undertaking this major challenge to support them to represent Palestine on a global stage and to continue to deliver life saving support to their communities.
Follow the Sunbirds on social media to see regular updates of them distributing aid efforts and to follow their campaign to reach the Olympics - Instagram/ X (Twitter) @GazaSunbirds
