Join us for the Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club’s 50th Anniversary Memorial Cycle Ride from September 10-15, 2024. This event commemorates those lost in the 1974 air disaster and supports St Nicholas Hospice Care. Cyclists will ride 354 miles from Ermenonville Forest, France, to Bury St Edmunds, UK.
Please contact austin@memorialcycleride.co.uk if you would like to get in contact re riders, sponsorship or helpers etc.
The Route
Itinery
Day 1 (10 Sep 2024): Tuesday
Cyclists travel to the Memorial Site in the Ermenonville Forest by road and ferry (Dover to Calais)
Memorial Service held at the Ermenonville Forest Memorial Site
Cyclists ride from Ermenonville Forest to Compiegne Rugby Club for welcome party (60 km)
Cyclists ride to hotel(s) in Compiegne
Cyclists have dinner and breakfast in Compiegne
Day 2 (11 Sep 2024) to Day 4 (13 Sep 2024): Wednesday/Thursday/Friday
Cyclists ride from Compiegne to Hook of Holland over four days
Precise route to be decided (see below Potential Route)
Day 2 124km
Day 3 148km
Day 4 105km
At the end of each stage cyclists and support team to be accommodated overnight and have dinner and
breakfast in each hotel
Day 5 to Day 6 (14/15 Sep 2024): Saturday/Sunday
Cyclists take overnight ferry from the Hook of Holland to Harwich
Dinner in Hook of Holland or on overnight ferry
Day 5 72km
Day 6 (15 Sep 2024): Sunday
Cyclists ride from Harwich to BSERFC Haberden Ground – 77km
Prior to arrival at BSERFC cyclist assemble at Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds
With police escort, cyclists ride from Nowton Park to BSERFC Haberden Ground
Reception at the Haberden Ground
This is a chaperoned event, gpx files will be sent out to all riders in advance of the event.
About the 1974 Air Disaster
The plane crash in March 3, 1974, was the worst the world had ever seen.
The players, staff and colleagues at the club had visited France in good spirits – to watch the England versus France Five Nations match and take part in a friendly against a local side – having just won the Suffolk Knockout Cup.
But after their friendly scheduled for the day of the crash was postponed, 18 of the 21-strong party opted to take an earlier flight on the ill-fated Turkish Airlines DC-10 as a two-day strike at Heathrow had halted any British flights.
In total 346 people perished in the tragedy, which caused incomparable grief in the west Suffolk town and rugby community. Ten local women had been widowed and between them they had 19 children who were now fatherless.
The Rugby Club set up a Disaster Fund to give immediate assistance, which had phenomenal support from the public.
About St Nicholas Hospice Care
St Nic’s is a welcoming place where someone with a life-limiting condition can get the specialist care, emotional and practical support they need.
They’re here to enable people to have a good quality of life, for as long as possible. That might mean managing pain and other symptoms; giving personal care; providing physiotherapy to keep someone mobile; offering counselling to work through difficult emotions; or arranging special activities to make all-important memories with loved ones.
The majority of patients they look after are in their own homes. £60,000 could help to pay for two nurses in their Community Team. This team is made up of Clinical Nurse Specialists, Senior Nurses and Healthcare Assistants. They visit patients in their own homes to deliver expert care and support to relieve physical symptoms and emotional distress, as well as advising the patient’s family on how best to care for their loved one.
In 2022-23 they travelled over 40,000 miles across the west of Suffolk and Thetford and made over 3,330 visits. The team is seeing rising demand with both increased numbers of referrals and patients presenting with more complex needs.
OUR MAIN SPONSORS
