Hello all and thanks for coming this far.

Hopefully with a few more words of encouragement I’ll be able to convince you to donate some serious cash to Riders for Health.

So who are Riders for Health? - Riders are a charity born out of the world of motorcycle racing. They were set up in 1996 with the goal of providing modern health care to those who don’t have access to it. Their work is focused in Africa where communities are spread over vast areas that are inaccessible due to the harsh terrain and poorly maintained infrastructure. Riders for Health works with local health care workers to help them reach their patients. They do this by providing them with motorbikes and by teaching them how to ride and properly maintain them.

By having a well maintained vehicle, a single health care worker can provide life-saving support for up to 20,000 people – that’s four times as many people than if they have to travel by foot. But reaching more people isn’t the only benefit. By having a motorcycle, health care workers are able to visit their patients much more frequently – a 15km walk to a village takes just 15 minutes by bike. So not only does the number of people who receive health care increase, but the quality of care improves as well.

During the summer I will be riding my motorbike 15,000 miles all the way from London to Cape Town in a bid to raise £2500 for Riders for Health. That ambitious fundraising goal is enough to provide one health care worker with a new motorcycle along with the training, tools and equipment to service and run it for an entire year. That’s enough resources to provide up to 20,000 Africans with health care support.

No doubt that’s incentive enough to start clicking the ‘donate’ button. But if you need further encouragement, then there’s more information about the excellent work of Riders for Health on their website www.riders.org and more information about my trip on www.ditchthecomfortzone.com.

To all those veteran donators out there I hardly need to mention that Just Giving is a totally secure website and is the most efficient way to donate money. Riders will receive your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax can be added to your donation at no cost to you.

So all that’s left for me to say is thank you very much for your support.