Neonatal Trust Ride4Life 2013

The Neonatal Trust is holding one of the biggest fundraising events ever in New Zealand; the Ride4Life charity road cycle ride!

For three weeks a team of cyclists, including ex All Black Christian Cullen, will put their lives on hold as they bike the length of New Zealand aiming to raise one million dollars for this very worthy charity.

Ten per cent of all babies born in New Zealand have to go to a hospital neonatal unit; that is around 6000 babies a year. The Neonatal Trust in New Zealand supports the families during this traumatic time, helps buy special equipment for Neonatal Care Units and contributes to medical research. The Neonatal Trust doesn’t receive any Government funding and relies on donations, sponsorship and fundraising.

From February 25th to March 15 a core team of 7 cyclists, will bike from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Several celebrities will join the team on different legs of the route.

A team of around 30 collectors will travel with the cyclists to collect donations as the cyclists bike through towns and cities in each region.

The Ride4Life will culminate with an attempt to break the New Zealand indoor velodrome record by previous Neonatal Trust chairman Eugene Collins in Invercargill on the 15th of March.

Weekes family sponsor Neonatal Trust Ride4Life charity cycle event

One of the major sponsors for Ride4Life is the couple who lost their triplets in a Doha mall fire last year, Jane and Martin Weekes.

The couple, currently living in Auckland, are undergoing IVF treatment again. They are also continuing to fight for justice for their late two year old triplets Lillie, Jackson and Willsher at court hearings in Qatar.

Mr Weekes says all the money donated to them at the time of their children’s funerals as well as any money made by magazine articles since then, has been given straight to the Neonatal Trust. He says so far that amounts to around $10,000.

The Weekes are fuel sponsors for Ride4life which is a three week charity bike ride the length of New Zealand, aiming to raise one million dollars for the Neonatal Trust.

They will be sponsoring the 12 vehicles that are travelling with the cyclists from Cape Reinga to Bluff, carrying the team of collectors.

The Weekes triplets spent sometime in the Wellington Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after they were born ten weeks prematurely on March 11 2010.

Martin is on the board of the Neonatal Trust and is passionate about the work the Trust does in New Zealand.

For more information please contact Neonatal Trust CEO Michael Meads 0272210730 or go to www.ride4life.co.nz