This may be of interest to people here.



I represent Helimed Rideout, a registered charity formed in 2007 by bike-riding paramedics (and now pilots) involved with the Wales Air Ambulance to support the Air Ambulance charity and other medical charities operating in Wales, particularly those with a direct relationship with the biking community.

We would like to invite you and your members on our third annual Helimed Rideout bike rally which, this year, will run on Saturday 22nd August 2009.
We will have two start points for riders to choose from depending on ease of travel; Swansea Airport, home of the South Wales Air Ambulance and Caernarfon Airport where the North Wales Air Ambulance is based.
The routes will run over some of Wales’ best riding roads, the routes coming together at TT Bike Centre in Llandrindod Wells where there will be refreshments available, before moving on to the end of the main run at the famous Ponderosa Café on Llangollen’s Horseshoe Pass.

After this, there will be an evening function to be held at the four-star Craxton Wood hotel near Chester. The hotel have offered very generous room rates of £60 per double/twin room (and we’ve confirmed that it is a room-rate, not per person) for riders booked on the run with a hot buffet, various entertainment and a charity auction with lots of bike-related and non-bike related goodies on offer. There is also a Premier Travel Inn within 400 yards of Craxton Wood where there will be rooms available for overflow customers.
Costs will be a minimum of £10 sponsorship per bike although riders are encouraged to raise as much as possible and, for those choosing to attend the evening event, a further £5 per person to cover the cost of the food (which is being heavily sponsored and therefore subsidised by the hotel). Each route will total approximately 200 miles if riders start at one of the airbases and continue to the hotel and it is envisaged that the run will begin between 10 and 11 am and finish between 5 and 6.

We have a website which is currently being updated and revised and should be online and active by the end of March 2009. It can be found at www.helimerideout.co.uk and I will email you again once it is live. Riders will be able to register, pay (the minimum sponsorship will be required at or before the date of the event) and download tickets, routes and other details directly from the site.
We can also send you a flyer pack if you were to feel that you were in a position to distribute them on other events or to members and we would be very grateful indeed to anyone who felt able to help in such a way.

With best regards and optimistic expectation of meeting you all,

Martin Darlington
Pilot, Central Wales Air Ambulance
Welshpool Airport

On behalf of Helimed Rideout (registered charity no. 1121003)