“Team Crennan For Everesting”

Kathy Woolley (also a “Crennan” to us) was deeply loved by Pete, Claire, Mark and Susan and her Woolley clan. But loved most of all by our Dad, Paul Crennan.

On the 07.07.2021, just 7 weeks shy of her 60th birthday, Kathy’s hard-fought battle with complications as a result of Scleroderma, came to a close. Her loss felt deeply by all of us, and the sadness only amplified by the distance between us (4 separate countries to be precise).

Scleroderma (or systemic sclerosis), is a chronic connective tissue condition. It is generally classified as one of the autoimmune rheumatic conditions.

Kathy developed symptoms of the condition 9 years ago but due the rarity and evolving professional knowledge at the time, it wasn’t until sometime later that she was accurately diagnosed with Scleroderma. Since then, Kathy was treated for the condition and able to live a happy and fulfilled life but in recent years, Kathy battled with some of the tougher, more severe side effects of Scleroderma which unfortunately got the better of her just over a month ago.

Scleroderma affects 6,000 Australians (that’s just 0.024% of our population) and given the rarity of the condition, there are a lot of unknowns about Scleroderma and there is no cure. So…we want to do something about it – we want to raise awareness and raise money to support Scleroderma Australia in their mission to understand and develop treatments for Scleroderma and to support those with it.

We also want to say thank you to Dad & Pete, who at a time when travel restrictions kept the family apart, cared for Kathy and for each other in her final months. There may be no gesture grand enough to thank them for this, but we think we chose a pretty good one…

The team

• Mark who was fortunate to eventually make it back to Australia after Kathy’s passing is currently in his second (yes second) 14-day hotel quarantine in Singapore as he makes his way back to wife Laura and daughter Olivia after 7 weeks away.

• Susan who decided to enter Australian lockdown (by choice) in order to be at home to support Dad, is currently in hotel quarantine in Sydney.

• Claire, who decided to move to Europe in the middle of the pandemic, is in Germany without a feasible opportunity to return any time soon.

The Challenge

So…from Germany to the confines of hotel quarantine rooms in Singapore and Sydney, Claire, Mark and Susan are going to complete a virtual “Everesting Challenge” and we need you to give us a big nudge up that mountain.

How’s it work?

Well…you know the world’s highest mountain, Everest? Well, we’re going to (virtually) ride up it! This means, cycling on an indoor bike trainer the height of Everest (8,848m). Between us, we’ll be climbing up and down a virtual mountain on Zwift (a cycling app) until we get there (estimating a collective 12-14 hours of hard riding on an indoor bike trainer). For cycling and Zwift nerds, we’ll be riding up ‘Alpe du Zwift’ which is inspired by Alpe d’Huez from Tour de France fame and we’re aiming to be up (and down) it 9 times in total between us!

When?

- Date: Saturday 21st August 2021

- Location: Zoom Meeting ID: 953 3873 6108 and Zwift!

- Time: From 3pm AEST

How can you get behind us?

1. Help us support Scleroderma Australia by making a donation (of any amount) via our Just Giving page

2. Join our Zoom call to cheer us on, to entertain us (or to simply watch us suffer in real time) – from 3pm AEST

3. If you can, jump on Zwift to ride with us for a bit (just make sure you follow Claire Crennan, Mark Crennan or Susan Crennan on Zwift companion app and choose to ride with one of us when you log in)

4. Give us a shout out on your socials to share what we’re doing and encourage others to donate #TeamCrennanForEveresting #RideWithReason