$10,500 Raised for St John By Christchurch Business

“An incredible achievement.”

That from Constructure Managing Director Cory Bedford who together with his team completed the 101km Forrest Grape Ride in Marlborough earlier this month.

All ten staff from the Christchurch structural engineering firm (including one former employee) took part in the ride which attracted more than 2500 participants and is the South Island’s largest and most popular recreational road cycling event.

Bedford pledged to match the money raised and a cheque for $10,500 was presented to St John at their Christchurch office today.

He says the Constructure team was like a United Nations entry with several staff members having come to Christchurch from overseas.

“Mustafa Ibrahim is from Sri Lanka and had never ridden a bike before and then there’s Bobby Collins from Ireland who did the Coast to Coast this year. Only three of the nine team members are from New Zealand and although our level of ability varied hugely, we all finished.”

Office Manager Julie Carter almost didn’t compete after suffering a shoulder injury a fortnight before the event however she put everything she had into making it to Marlborough. In true Constructure style, Mustafa rode with Julie the entire way with the two of them crossing the finish line in a time of a little over 5 hours.

Constructure team times were: Nathan 2:57:09 / Bobby 3:16:18 / Cory 3:16:19 / Jennifer 3:18:29 / Pieter3:24:45 / Sarah 3:59:19 / Isabel 4:03:48 / Chris 4:09:21 / Mustafa 5:07:44 / Jule 5:09:11. Note: Nathan Moore was 261st of 1646 finishers.