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Izzi and I are planning to cycle the Tour Aotearoa - a 3000km route through New Zealand from Cape Reinga to Bluff covering many of the cycle trails that span the two (largest) islands as well as some of NZ's infamous gravel roads, highways and even a section of beach! Our aim is to complete the route within 5 weeks, starting on the 15th January 2025. We think it will be a challenging but incredible way to say goodbye to New Zealand and also hope to raise some money for a charity that is important to Matt.

Our goal is to raise £3000 (£1 per km) for the Keaton Emery Memorial Foundation, which aims to provide underprivileged young people in the North of England with the opportunity to access fundamental resources, such as mental health services and further education. They work closely with Centrepoint, a charity committed to ending youth homelessness and in the last 6 months funding from the KEMF has supported 55 young people into accommodation. Their funding has also supported the work of the Complex Care Team at Centrepoint who help young people with significant needs including those with mental health illness, learning difficulties, substance misuse and abuse victims.

Keaton Emery was my good friend and a beautiful person with an adventurous soul. In April 2017 he set out on his bike from his home near Macclesfield with the goal of reaching Australia without using air travel. We met up in Plymouth, where he was due to catch the ferry, to say goodbye for what I had expected to be a couple of years. At the time I had no idea that it was the last time I would ever see him. Devastatingly his journey came to an end in September 2017 when he fell to his death whilst hiking near Lake Como in Italy.

Keaton and I met in halls of residence during our Freshers year at Nottingham University. We went on to spend a year as housemates in Keaton's final year at university and were also travel companions for an Inter-rail trip during a summer holiday. He had a fantastically inquisitive mind and was forever asking me difficult questions, probing my arguments and motivations and playing devils advocate (much to my annoyance at the time)! Many years down the line I can appreciate the wisdom he had beyond his years as well as a genuine interest in other people and their beliefs and a strong desire to advocate for causes he believed in.

Keaton grew up in the North of England and was very conscious that his privileged upbringing had financially and emotionally given him enormous opportunities for the way he could live his life and that many people do not have these same opportunities. He was particularly passionate about promoting training and education for young people to ensure that they can support themselves in a rapidly changing world. Also, as someone who had faced his own mental health challenges, he had tremendous empathy and love for young people going through their own difficulties relating to poor mental health.

Please have a look at the KEMF website, set up by his parents if you would like to know more about Keaton or the ongoing results from the work that donations to the KEMF are supporting.

https://www.keatonemeryfoundation.com/

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