Coolair’s 300-mile ride raises £80,000

UK: A team of clients, consultants and staff of air conditioning contractor Coolair Equipment has raised £80,000 for charity by completing a 300 mile cycle ride through SE Asia.

The 17-strong group, led by Neil Gibbard, regional director of Coolair Equipment Ltd in Cannock, completed the the ride from Saigon in Vietnam to Angkor Wat in Cambodia in six days.

The trip was in aid of Challenge Cancer UK, which distributes funds across the range of cancer support from research to respite care.

After 12 months of training on UK roads, Team Coolair faced cycling for up to eight hours a day along narrow paths and unmade cross-country tracks in crushing humidity and, on one day, high winds.

Neil Gibbard, who led a similar charity ride two years ago, after which he was made a corporate ambassador for Challenge Cancer UK, organised the challenge with the support of air conditioning supplier Mitsubishi Electric.

Neil, who also raised the largest individual sum of £9,030 towards the £80,846 total, said: “The team were all new to such a challenge and included biking novices, but everyone exceeded their physical and mental expectations – and their fundraising targets. Our many supporters and sponsors were tremendous in their encouragement and generosity.”

Accompanied by a local guide and a support vehicle for their bags, the party of 16 men and one woman cycled around paddy fields and along twisty temple-lined tracks in the lush Mekong Delta in Vietnam and then through the dry lands of ancient Cambodia.

Team Coolair comprised Martin Atkins (Skerritt Electrical), Rodney Clarke (Dodd Group), John Ensell (Mitsubishi Electric), Mark Garstang (Coolair), Neil Gibbard (Coolair), Scott Lydon (Clancy Consulting), David Massey (Core Group Projects), Paul Mawdsley (Coolair), Lee Moores (Coolair), Carl Morphew (BSE3d), Joseph Pavitt (Norman Disney & Young), Lee Rattenbury (Grummant Heating), Craig Scott (GDM Partnership), Simon Seaton-Smith (Couch Perry Wilkes), Ian Webster (Kosco Interiors), Laura Welsh (Coolair) and Carl Wood (AF Connell).