VeloSPA & SPA Bradford 100km Charity Challenge Ride in West Yorkshire
VeloSPA Story
Some of our members and friends are taking part in a 100 km (62 mile) charity bike ride organised by VeloSPA in West Yorkshire and hosted by SPA Bradford. They are raising money for Automated External Defibrillators (AED) or Public Access Defibrillators (PAD) for local communities. If you’d like to take part or donate towards a good cause, here is some more information about them.
Their website for more information on how to get involved: velospa.org.
Some information about VeloSPA
Two of our members, Chaxu and Kalpesh, passionate about cycling have come together to help our members get more active and formed VeloSPA to make it easier for our SPA communities in the UK to host cycling events. Organising cycling events requires specific cycling knowledge and experience.
Safety is always the Number One priority. Never leave another rider. These two beliefs make for safe and enjoyable riding and are the fundamentals of cycling for both Kal and Chaxu.
Kalpesh has completed many rides for other organisations/sportive and many tour rides, such as the London to Paris, Coast 2 Coast including holiday rides in Tenerife, Sardina, Italy, France and Mallorca. For his 50th he completed his teenage dream ride was Land’s End to John O Groats, averaged at 72 miles/day for 14 days.
Chaxu has completed charity rides, raising funds and sportive such as three Tour De Yorkshire and Sa Collabra in Mallorca. Initially a mountain biker for many years, riding trails up to 30 miles, he then took up road biking in 2017 getting up to 60 miles on the Heart of Yorkshire sportive within 3 months. Chaxu’s longest ride to date in a single day has been over 120 miles (Ravensthorpe 120).
VeloSPA is a not-for-profit organisation passionate about helping our communities be healthier and improve wellbeing by organizing cycling events. They aim to encourage new and existing cyclists to take part in group cycling events and social group rides. VeloSPA lead riders will organise rides in your area, with local knowledge, to build confidence, they will share lots of tips and experiences.
We hope to see you at our future annual charity fundraising ride events. Please read our story on our donation page by clicking on the Donate button at www.velospa.org.
The first ride will be in Bradford, supported by Shree Prajapati Association Bradford (Charity Reg No. 1000367) and organised by VeloSPA.
More about their first event
On Saturday 13th July 2024 (put it in your diary) there’s 3 events taking place in Bradford, West Yorkshire with SPA Bradford, from a 100km challenge bike ride, Fun Ride & Walk and Anand Bazar where you can support by riding, walking, making and selling food to raise money. Please sign-up, attend and donate, this is an important cause that could save a life in our communities. 🙏
Some words from VeloSPA about AED/PADs
Cardiac Arrests are different to Heart Attacks. In a cardiac arrest the heart stops beating and the only way to restart the heart beating is by using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Chest compression will not restart the heart but will only pump oxygen around the body and keep the brain alive, until an AED can take over to restart the heart.
An AED is an essential piece of life saving equipment in the first few minutes after a cardiac arrest. Community centres are a place of gathering, events and worship and usually situated in the middle of the local communities. Access to an AED should be less than 3-5 minutes away from the person in need to be most effective. This ultimately means the more AEDs that are located in communities the higher chance there is of saving lives.
ACCESS and TIME is CRITICAL for SURVIVAL. Do you know where to find your closest Automated External Defibrillator (AED) or Public Access Defibrillators (PAD)?
A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, regardless of the age, fitness or health, anywhere. That’s why VeloSPA.org believe it’s vital that access to an AED is only minutes away from anyone in need in our communities. VeloSPA.org wants to raise monies to purchase AEDs for our community centres.
A good heart means being active and what better way to stay active than cycling. From kids to retired people, cycling becomes more important if you want a zero-impact workout. VeloSPA can help with all cycling matters form learning to build confidence and become active.
We are proud of SPA Bradford, who have decided to support us to help raise monies for AEDs or PADs. As a member of the Gujarati community in the whole of the UK, you too can support this by donating or as a participate in what will hopefully be an annual event in each Gujarati community in the UK (subject to VeloSPA.org conditions).
VeloSPA.org in association with SPA Bradford is the first community to come forward to support this first cycling event, which is open to all individuals in the UK of any faith. We encourage those from other places in the UK and not just those living in Bradford to take part. So why not visit www.velospa.org find the ride and sign up.
We plan to take the event to all communities in the UK that wish to host and support a similar event (subject to VeloSPA requirements. Contact us via info@velospa.org.
We promise that all donations will be spent in local communities within the UK only.
