THE sexiest journalist in shipping just got sexier. Tradewinds’ Editor, Julian Bray, is following in the footsteps (or should that be pedals) of Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins.
Bray, who suffered severe head injuries in a cycling accident in 2011, is competing in the world’s toughest and highest cyclosportive, the week-long Haute Route, starting in Geneva on 19th August.
He will be covering 780 km and 21,000 meters of ascent. Yes, 780 kilometres through seven cities and mountain resorts from Geneva to Nice. And a lot of ’hills’ (19 alpine cols to be precise). That’s no 10k run. Even if you’re a bit jaded with constant requests for sponsorship for runs, bikes rides, hill walks and so on, you’ve got to admit, this is a bit different. Julian will raise money for two charities during the Haute Route; The Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance helped save his own life last year and the OSCAR shipping campaign to raise money for world famous Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
Getting a place in the race is no mean feat in itself. Julian is one of just seven riders selected to form a Charity Team that will compete among the 600 strong competitors.
Julian’s justgiving page has just been launched: http://www.justgiving.com/JulianBray
Go on – get yer credit card out and give a few pennies.
To read more, see http://www.hauteroute.org/en
(Spinnaker’s David Tubb and Phil Parry were very proud to take part in the British 10k for the Apostleship of the Sea recently. Asked what they thought of Julian Bray’s efforts they described it as “nothing special”. “He’s cheating really,” said Tubb. “I mean, quite a lot of the route will be downhill after all.”)
