What does a baton have to do with a long distance charity bike ride in aid of Give a Kidney?
In athletics the relay race is only complete when all members of the team have run their leg and safely passed the baton having done their part.
It symbolises the passing of responsibility for the next stage from one to the other.
We are now less than four months away from the start of the 500 mile Transplant Tour at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (entrance above)
One of our primary goals has been to highlight the benefit of living kidney donation and to exemplify this we will be carrying with us a baton, because by visiting these seven transplant centres, we are effectively creating a relay.
The baton itself is being hand turned and carved by a Wokingham sponsor who has found himself in need of NHS support recently but is now on the path to recovery.
The handover of the baton, the idea of Sarah Lundie at Edinburgh Royal, will be used to symbolise the giving and receiving of a kidney. We are pleased to announce that not only do we now have four living kidney donors amongst our ever increasing number, we have now found four kidney recipients who will also cycle some of the route with us, and be at Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester and Sheffield, where they will each receive the baton.
We are now actively looking for more recipients who can cycle and would like to join us at Leeds, Birmingham and Oxford. If that someone is you, please go to the Contact Us page and get in touch, you don't have to cycle far, and you will be made most welcome.