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SPINAL NETWORK NEWS 7<br />
Tour of Duty<br />
Four likeable lads put their bodies on the line for the NZ Spinal Trust<br />
All smiles: Dominic van Berlo, Hans Wouters, Su Marshall, Brendon Vercoe and Hayden Wilson<br />
enjoying one of the best views in New Zealand after Day Two finished in Queenstown.<br />
In April, the Permobil NZ Spinal Trust team<br />
competed in the bi-annual Tour of New<br />
Zealand Cycle event. Su Marshall, NZST<br />
Fundraising Manager, was on hand to witness<br />
the competition, the camaraderie, and the<br />
chaos. It was nine days she will never forget.<br />
The Tour of New Zealand is a charity cycling race/ride<br />
(you choose whether to go hard out or cruise) that involves<br />
up to 250 riders riding 550km over eight days for seven<br />
selected charities. It’s a logistical nightmare, even in a<br />
non-Covid environment! And yet the organising team<br />
managed to pull off their sixth successful tour in April,<br />
and I was lucky enough to be part of it … in a purely<br />
support-type role you understand … this body’s not built<br />
for cycling!<br />
As a non-cyclist this was my first experience of a big<br />
cycling event, and I had no idea what to expect. I was<br />
about to spend nine days travelling the South Island, with<br />
a quick detour to Wellington at the end of it, with four<br />
blokes—Brendon Vercoe, Dominic van Berlo, Hayden<br />
Wilson and Hans Wouters—who were fizzing at the bung<br />
at the thought of this trip … luckily, I share a home with<br />
my husband and two teenaged sons so was not to be put<br />
off! Here’s a brief diary of the trip from my perspective.<br />
Day One: Travel to Queenstown<br />
— Su Marshall<br />
The warm and friendly<br />
atmosphere from the start of<br />
the race was amplified with<br />
plenty of banter, advice, goodnatured<br />
ribbing and hyperbole.<br />
We had a beautiful day for travelling. We met up with<br />
Brendon’s Mum and step-Dad in Fairlie for a pie—they<br />
were on their way back to Blenheim. Meeting up with<br />
family and friends across the Tour was to be a feature of<br />
our trip—and highlighted the grassroots support our wee<br />
team had.<br />
Safely arrived at Queenstown and registered, we then<br />
went to our accommodation. The guys were all in the one<br />
room, so that looked like a bombsite before we even left<br />
for dinner! Over some of the best burgers ever, there were<br />
lots of nervous jokes (Dom is king of the Dad joke! With<br />
Hans not far behind …) and conjecture about the route<br />
and competition.
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