Update: Grand Finale: Italy Just The Job For IW Square 2 Square
The Square to Square Charity Cycle Challenge 2008 started on Saturday 30th August 2008.
The challenge will see a team of Isle of Wight Firefighters (pictured below) cycling 1,400 miles each over 14 days from St Thomas’ Square, Newport, Isle of Wight, Great Britain to St Peter’s Square, Vatican, Italy.
Isle of Wight Council Leader David Pugh was among a group of many supporters who gathered in St Thomas’ Square on Saturday evening to wish the group of Island firefighters luck as they set off on their charity cycle ride to the Vatican City.
The group of firefighters are due to arrive back on the Island in time to take part in the Isle of Wight Cycling Festival where they will be sharing their adventures with young people during the Go Ride Cycle Day on Saturday 20th September in St Thomas’ Square, Newport and then cycling around the Island on Sunday 21st.
Cllr David Pugh presented the cyclists with the Isle of Wight flag, which will be offered to the Mayor of Ostellato as a gift from the Island at a civic reception due to be held in the Italian town on Tuesday 9th September.
Cllr Pugh said:
“Not only is the cycling team raising a great deal of money for a very worthy cause, the team members are also great ambassadors for the Isle of Wight.
Their hard work and dedication is to be commended and on behalf of the Isle of Wight Council I would like to wish them the best of luck for their challenge and look forward to seeing them return having achieved their goals, and raised much more money for their fundraising appeal.”
The Square to Square Charity Cycle Challenge 2008 Appeal is raising money for the diagnosis, treatment and care of Isle of Wight cancer and leukaemia patients.
The total raised to date is £57,500, with the current target of £60,000; the original target set on launch of the challenge in August 2007 was £25,000. The appeal has received tremendous support from the public, as well as local, national and international businesses.
The challenge is now dedicated to and in memory of Anthony Minghella, CBE, by kind permission of his parents.
The SQ2SQ 2008 Team comprises of ten cyclists and five support crew and they will start their departure day with a cycle around the Isle of Wight, starting at 8am from St Thomas’ Square, Newport, Isle of Wight on Saturday 30th August 2008.
During this circuit of the island they will be calling at all ten Isle of Wight Fire Stations, returning to St Thomas’ Square, Newport at approximately 2pm.
The SQ2SQ 2008 Team then rest for a few hours before returning to St Thomas’ Square, Newport at 6.30pm for the send off, with a speech from the Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight and the Chief Fire Officer, Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service.
The Team then leave the square at 7pm. Saturday 30 August 2008 to 13th September 2008: Square to Square Charity Cycle Challenge starts -
Start time 0755 hrs from Newport Fire Station to St Thomas’ Square
08.00hrs leave St Thomas’ Square to A10 (Yarmouth)
Arrive A10 (Yarmouth) approx 0840 hrs. Depart 0845 hrs
Arrive A9 (Freshwater) approx 0900 hrs. Depart 0905 hrs
Arrive A8 (Ventnor) approx 1030 hrs. Depart 1035 hrs
Arrive A7 (Shanklin) approx 1050 hrs. Depart 1055 hrs
Arrive A6 (Sandown) approx 1110 hrs. Depart 1115 hrs
Arrive A5 (Bembridge) approx 1145 hrs. Depart 1205 hrs(20 min lunch break)
Arrive A4 (Ryde) approx 1230 hrs. Depart 1235 hrs
Arrive A3 (East Cowes) approx 1305 hrs. Depart 1310 hrs
Arrive A2 (Cowes) approx 1320 hrs. Depart 1325 hrs
Arrive St Thomas’s Square 1345 hrs.
2 to 2.30pm approx. return to Newport Fire Station
6.30pm St Thomas’ Square – Attended by HM Lord Lieutenant and Mrs White, Chief Fire Officer Paul Street
7pm leave St Thomas’ Square
Wightlink ferry: Fishbourne to Portsmouth – 30th August 2008 (2008/08/30) – 8pm
LD Lines ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre- overnight on 30th August 2008 (2008/08/30) – 11pm – arrive Le Havre at 8am on 31st August (2008/08/31).
“Departure Day: Saturday 30th August 2008 8am: Round the Island cycle ride (65 miles/105km) from St Thomas’ Square, Newport, Isle of Wight – return 2pm.
7pm: St Thomas’ Square, Newport: SQ2SQ 2008 Team depart -Ferry to Portsmouth then overnight ferry to Le Havre, France.”
Day 1: Sunday 31 August 2008:
Le Havre , France to Evreux, France – 105 miles/169km
Day 2: Monday 1 September 2008: Evreux, France to Orleans, France – 102 miles/164km
Day 3: Tuesday 2 September 2008: Orleans, France to Nevers, France – 101 miles/163km
Day 4: Wednesday 3 September 2008: Nevers, France to Roanne, France – 106 miles/171km
Day 5: Thursday 4 September 2008: Roanne, France to Creys Mepieu, France – 107 miles/172km
Day 6: Friday 5 September 2008: Creys Mepieu, France to Briancon, France – 105 miles/169km
Day 7: Saturday 6 September 2008: Briancon, France to Asti, Italy – 101 miles/163km
Day 8: Sunday 7 September 2008: Asti, Italy to Milan, Italy – 100 miles/161km
Day 9: Monday 8 September 2008: Milan, Italy to Palma, Italy – 100 miles/161km
Day 10: Tuesday 9 September 2008: Palma, Italy to Ostellato, Italy – 98 miles/158km
Civic reception from Ostellato Town Mayor.
Day 11: Wednesday 10 September 2008: Ostellato, Italy to Forli, Italy – 100 miles/161km
Day 12: Thursday 11 September 2008: Forli, Italy to Siena, Italy – 91 miles/146km
Day 13: Friday 12 September 2008: Siena, Italy to Sutri, Italy – 103 miles/166km
Day 14: Saturday 13 September 2008: Sutri, Italy to St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, Italy – 40 miles/64km
The distances are conservative, for many of the days the distances will be plus 10 miles/16km.
Full details of the schedule for the departure day and the daily route are at the challenge website: www.SQ2SQ.com
Square to Square Charity Cycle Challenge Teams
The Square to Square Charity Cycle Challenge 2008 Team currently comprises of ten cyclists, including guest cyclists from Wight Mountain, Newport, British Cycling and Carisbrooke Schools Sports Partnership.
The teams have a support crew, again from firefighters (wholetime and retained) and firefighters (control) in the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service.
The Square to Square Charity Cycle Challenge will be raising money for the Wessex Cancer Trust for the care and support of Island cancer patients: more details: Wessex Cancer Trust Isle of Wight details here:
Tickets for the SQ2SQ 2008 Grand Prize Draw are now available, with the main prize of a bike and accessories worth £600 kindly donated by Wight Mountain, Newport, Isle of Wight.
There are more prizes available: see here: for a list of the prizes in the SQ2SQ 2008 Grand Prize Draw
The SQ2SQ 2008 Grand Prize Prize Draw tickets cost £1 each or in a book of five tickets at £5.
All proceeds from the sale of the prize draw tickets will go to the Square to Square Charity Cycle Challenge Appeal 2008 The prize draw takes place on Saturday 25th October 2008 at Cowes Yacht Haven, Isle of Wight from 7pm. more details here:
The Italian Job From Square To Square 2008
Update: Grand Finale: Italy Just The Job For IW Square 2 Square
The Italian part of the job, for the Isle of Wight SQ2SQ Charity Cycle Team Challenge saw them complete 103 miles across the northern plains of Italy (in temperatures in the low to mid 30’s in the shade) through to Ostellato.
Italy seems to agree with the Team as they were met on the way by the Ferrero Fire Service Cycling Team in the town of Poggio Renatico and accompanied, through to Ferraro town centre and then onwards to Ostellato.
In Ostellato the Team were met by the Mayor of Ostellato and Ernesto Bruni (ex stage winner of the Tour de France and winner of Olympic medals), along with supporters and the Assistant Chief Fire Officer of the Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service, Steve Apter.
A civic reception was held for the Team, where the Assistant Chief Fire Officer Steve Apter, made a speech in Italian to those present. This was reciprocated by the Ferraro Fire Service Chief Fire Officer.
Other speeches were made by the Mayor of Ostellato, along with Rosie Barnard (part of the SQ2SQ 2008 UK support who organised the reception with the Ostellato Mayor’s office).
The Isle of Wight Flag, given to the SQ2SQ 2008 Team by Cllr David Pugh and Cllr Lady Pigot (Leader and Deputy Leader of the Isle of Wight Council) on their day of departure from the Isle of Wight (30 August 2008) was passed to the Mayor.
The Team were then given much appreciated accommodation and hospitality courtesy of the Mayor.
Day 11 saw the Team head south towards Rome and start their first day of three in the Appenines mountain region, in temperatures f 38C (100F) in the shade.
Day 12 completed and another 75 miles cycled as the Team climbed up through the Appenines from 1,800 feet to 4,200 feet. The high point of the day was Paso De Caffa and a 10 mile decent was a reward for the 9 mile climb that started the day.
During the day the average temperatures rose to 45C (approx 120F) as the team started to cross the plains leading to Rome.
The Team stayed overnight in Castiglione de Lago, and are now in the Umbria region after crossing the Appenines and riding into Tuscany. They have 140 km/96 miles (Day 13) before their final stay just outside of Rome.
Day 14 will see the Team cycle 32km/20 miles from their campsite into Rome accompanied by cyclists from the Italian Fire Service (some of whom recently competed in the International Firefighter Games in Liverpool) and onto St Peter’s Square, Vatican City.
Update: The penultimate day of SQ2SQ 2008 completed 111 miles cycled by the Team in hot, muggy conditions and again over hilly terrain of the Appenines. The Team rolled out of Casteloigne Del Lago and headed towards Bracceaina.
Though the heat of the previous day wasn’t present, the riding was very rolling with regular short, challenging climbs and decsent’s which proved to be draining on the team in 23+ degrees of heat. By lunch time the team had covered 66 miles and in the afternoon the temprature soared to a 37 degrees in the shade.
The final day of the challenge will see the Team cycle from their campsite in Bracceaina and onto St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, escorted by the Italian Fire Service cycling team.
Around 40 people (family, friends and individuals from various organisations, including Chief Fire Officer Paul Street, Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service) will be meeting the team in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City on the Team’s arrival at approximately 12.30 Italian time (11.30 GMT).
Bringing the expected total mileage to 1,479 miles since 30th August 2008. The charity cyclists can be tracked online at the SQ2SQ Website
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