Rotorua type 1 diabetics riding 125km to raise funds and awareness
13 Apr, 2021 06:00 AM
4 minutes to read
The Rotorua team taking on the Contact Epic Lake Hawea ride have been training hard. Photo / Supplied
The Rotorua team taking on the Contact Epic Lake Hawea ride have been training hard. Photo / Supplied
A group of diabetics, along with friends and whānau, are set to tackle a 125km mountain bike challenge. The group of Rotorua riders are on a mission to raise funds and awareness for type 1 diabetes (T1D).
On April 17 the seven-strong team will take part in the Contact Epic, a gruelling mountain bike ride around Lake Hawea in the South Island.
Volunteers - including local residents and retailers - in Market Lavington have mobilised once more to support their community. Last March, Suzanne Morrison created a Facebook group with a call-out for help ahead of a looming lockdown announcement. She took her son to a physio appointment, and expected to come back to perhaps a handful of sign-ups. She got home and made a coffee, and was shocked to see that 80 people had already got in touch to volunteer. She said: “No-one knew what was coming or how long we’d have to work for. “By the time lockdown was imposed I was shielding due to a lung condition, so my thanks goes out to the volunteers on the ground who are doing amazing things. We hit the ground running here in Market Lavington.