* I wish the riders the best of luck on their ambitious cycle ride—Malawi High Commissioner to UK, Dr Thomas Bisika
* They will ride 80-110 miles per day for six days in order to reach Glasgow on August 10
* In time for the UCI Cycling World Championships which began on Thursday, August 3-13
* Coincidentally, Malawian cyclist Macpherson Mbeya is participating in three disciplines
By Duncan Mlanjira
Four cyclists of Think Malawi — a UK-registered charity which supports education projects in Malawi, embarked on an adventure on Saturday, August 5 to cover 500 miles from London to Glasgow to raise money for education projects in Malawi.
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They are riding under the banner ‘Pedal with a Purpose’ and are expected to ride 80-110 miles per day for six days in order to reach Glasgow on August 10.
They are targeting to arrive in time for the conclusion of UCI Cycling World Championships which began on Thursday, August 3-13 in which, coincidentally, Malawian cyclist Macpherson Mbeya is participating in three demanding and very different cycling disciplines, including the Gran Fondo (Friday, August 4) — a distance of 100 miles through the Perthshire countryside, which entails 1,663m of ascent.
A statement from Think Malawi on their website https://www.thinkmalawi.org/london-to-glasgow-cycle-ride-2023 that is appealing for financial support, says they help children in Malawi to fulfil their potential in many ways — such as sanitary pad projects enabling girls to stay in school, constructing desks and innovating through remote learning projects.
“We work with a number of Malawian partner organisations, who listen closely to their communities in identifying needs and developing projects to address them,” said the statement.
It adds that the seeds for assisting Malawi were sown after the founder and trustee of the charity, Steve McInerny, crossed through Malawi on his epic ride from Cairo to Cape Town in 2004-5 along with a team of hardy riders.
Steve McInerny when he crossed through Malawi
In an interview, George Ndisale, chairperson of Malawi Association UK (MAUK) — the umbrella body of all associations of Malawians in the United Kingdom — said when McInerny and the others stopped in Blantyre where McInerny’s mother, Kate Hauxwell was a teacher at St Andrews International High School.
“During this short stopover, Steve identified a gap in girl child’s literacy,” Ndisale said. “It was then that Think Malawi was born. When he returned to UK he formally registered it as a charity.
McInerny is the main organiser of the London to Glasgow ride and he has organised sponsored rides for the charity twice before.
They were seeing off at View Tube Café near Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London by Malawi High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, His Excellency, Dr Thomas Bisika who wished the four “the best of luck on their ambitious cycle ride”.
“I’m very happy that through this project, so many Malawians based in the UK are supporting this event,” he said. “This in turn enables Think Malawi to fund education projects which are run by Malawian organisations — a virtuous circle which benefits thousands of children in Malawi.
“I hope that the British public and the Malawians in diaspora will give their support as well to this worthy endeavour,” he said.
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Think Malawi further said the 500 mile route passes through many historic towns, and some of Britain’s best cycling areas, which include the dramatic north Pennines, and riding over the Humber Bridge, the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world which can be crossed by bicycle.
Their main sponsor is Billy Bilsland Cycles based in Glasgow, Scotland, who already has a strong link with Malawi as its manager, Neil Bilsland also supported Macpherson Mbeya with a loan of three top-of-the-range bikes for different disciplines in his quest to participate UCI Cycling World Championships.
Mbeya, a developing Malawian professional cyclist, is a clinical officer from Mzimba District participated in the Gran Fondo on Friday, August 4) and today he undertook a 60-mile Cross-Country Mountain Bike Marathon at Glentress in the Tweed Valley and concludes with a 14-mile time trial in Glasgow on Monday, August 7.
Mbeya’s participation has been facilitated by Scotland-Malawi Partnership, a civil society network coordinating that supports and represents people-to-people links between the two nations.
The network approached Neil Bilsland for assistance after he also generously lent out bikes to Malawian athletes to compete in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and a statement from Scotland-Malawi Partnership said Bilsland swiftly accepted to assist “within minutes of an e-mail to his shop.
He supported Macpherson with a 51 Cervelo Caledonia with Ultegra; a 51cm Cervelo P3 Di2 and a Genesis Mantle HT and Mbeya was quoted as saying this is the first time in his life that he had seen, let alone used such bikes.
“I never dreamed that I would get to ride a bike that’s the correct size for me,” he said. “I’ve had to modify the road bike which I use in Malawi, which is too big for me. I’m really looking forward to competing in Scotland, to meeting friends there and to representing my country.”
Organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), this is the inaugural championships awarded to Glasgow and across Scotland that has attracted more than 2,600 athletes to win over 200 rainbow jerseys.
According to UCI’s website, the championships are set to be held every four years in the year preceding the Olympic Games, brings together various disciplines of cycling for them to be held as part of one event, including the UCI Road World Championships, UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
The inaugural event, whose funding is from various local and national bodies, including the Scottish Government and UK Sport, will host 13 individual UCI World Championships, and be the biggest ever cycling event — in total, over 190 world champions will be crowned.
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