Due to the impact of Covid-19 and the understandable restrictions on funding, the Isle of Man Ladies Vagabonds RUFC will unfortunately be unable to compete competitively without sponsorship and fundraising. Due to being the only ladies team on the Island, we have always been heavily reliant on off-Island travel to play in league fixtures.

In light of this, myself and current ladies captain Julia Harrison, have decided we would like to do something to continue to support our team, our club, and the development of all the new girls who are yet to have these playing opportunities.

As well as supporting Vagabonds Ladies RUFC, we are going to share any money raised 50/50 with the Wooden Spoon IOM Charity. Wooden Spoon IOM is a branch of Wooden Spoon UK the children’s charity of rugby. They fund life-changing projects that support children and young people with disabilities or living in disadvantage. Since 1983, they have supported several charities on the island. Their focus is to help children and young people through projects such as the sensory room at PSAC, developing facilities at Rebecca House Hospice, Project 21 and most recently Bridge the Gap at Nobles Hospital. They have granted over £180,000 to local project on island.

So, what are we going to do?

We are going to cycle to Guernsey! With the air bridge currently between the Isle of Man and Guernsey, and them too having a ladies rugby team, we would love to organise some competitive games with them. Therefore, it seemed like a really good idea for us very much non-cyclists to organise a "cycle to Guernsey"!!

The distance to Guernsey is 341 miles - so that means we will be cycling 85.25 miles each day over 4 days. This will start on Thursday 27th August and finish on Sunday 30th August. We will be cycling around the NSC outside track, starting at 8am each day.

We appreciate these are unprecedented times we find ourselves in, but any contributions would be really gratefully received.

Lauren and Jules