What have I done?

My shins hurt from jogging, twice now cars have nearly hit me and my stomach is calling out for food (nothing new there). I am at least one stone over weight, but let’s face it, I’ve always been. My games teacher used to call it ‘puppy fat, but my doctor kindly refers to it as ‘morbidly obese.’

It is now 8 months and counting until I fly to Egypt to participate in the Nile Cycle Challenge - 400km’s in 5 days in the searing heat (32-40 degrees I am told) to benefit the Oxford based children’s charity, OSCAR.

I am sure that most of you reading this article might say ‘so what’, ‘no big deal.’ Maybe one or two might offer up a ‘respect.’ Many have told me not to do it – but I can’t. You see, I organised it, I run the Charity and I have persuaded all the others to take part. “It’s a doddle,” I recall saying to some of them. “If I can do it so can you”.

The point of no return has come and past me by – in many respects!

Seats on planes have been booked, I’ve been in the papers and spoken on Radio Oxford to promote the event. Kind and eager people have committed themselves to take part and I even have a few generous sponsors, and as I write I still have to remember how to ride a bike.

A few regular cyclists have already agreed to take part in this trip (some said no because it was not challenging enough – who are these people?!). The regular cyclists have already made comments about ‘not underestimating the effort involved,’ and the need to invest in significant ‘saddle time’ to avoid problems come the day. I’m not showing it but admit this has started to worry me. After all, I am a 45-year-old man and my ‘saddle time’ was over 25 years ago.

My first real bike was a Raleigh Chopper and I must have been 7 years old (1965!). How I loved that bike; it had a nifty gear change on the cross bar and I spent most of my tender cycling years pretending it was an ice cream van dispensing 99’s with flake to my friends. A few years later, when I was 12, I was given a racing bike and spent hours cycling around and around the green in my village pretending I was on an endurance ride. We did it for days on end until the parents agreed on packed lunches. Then my neighbour and I would cycle as far as midday would take us before eating lunch and cycling back in time for tea.

Oh, halcyon days! It seems like only yesterday, to my horror, I realise that was over 35 years ago and at this moment I have not reacquainted myself with a bicycle’s seat (suggested ending – original is a bit awkward, and contradictory).

So why am I doing it, who is it for, what is my role?

Why do it?

The why is very painful – I lost my son, Jack, aged 7, to a brain tumour in 1999. This was the worst year of my life. He was diagnosed late January 1999 and died 19th August 1999. Jack was first-born and my only son. Nothing despite having had two further girls, making it three beautiful daughters, can make it as it was. Take note parents, something like this is a big wake up call! You suddenly wish you had spent more time with them, taken them places and given them more things. You still have time to get your act together. Change your approach to life, and do it NOW.

Who is it for?

The who is the charity that supported us while Jack was ill. It was called OSCAR (Offering Support to Children and Relatives). OSCAR provides parents with information and prepares them for what comes next. It organises events where the children are entertained and the parents get the chance to relax and to mix and exchange information with others in similar positions. I know from personal experience how important it is to talk to others dealing with the same pains, problems and fears. I also know how valued the events are for the children.

What is my role?

My role is now Chief Executive/Chairman. When Jack died the charity was close to closing due to lack of funds. I along with others agreed to join a committee comprising of hospital staff and parents to see if we could help OSCAR survive. For the last 2 years I have been OSCAR’s Chief Executive/Chairman (a volunteer role), and we have not only survived, but we now want to expand upon the services we offer to these children and their families.

So, for a small charity that raises the odd thousand pounds here and there the Nile Cycle Challenge is a big event. It’s my idea. Over the last 5 years I have been involved we have grown steadily and have held a string of ‘traditional’ fund raising events such as charity balls, auctions and raffles which have allowed us to commit to delivering a set of annual events for families and begin putting together plans for better information services and support. Last year, however, when we looked at how to build upon the success of recent years I decided that we needed to do something big, something that ‘gave back’ to the people that helped us raise money. As a result of attending a Business Breakfast Club I met a lady from ‘Egyptian Experience’ who organises ‘holiday of a lifetime’ trips to Egypt, and in particular organised Charity cycling trips along the Nile.

When I told the committee what I wanted to do there was a lot of doubt, possibly about my ability to organise it, but certainly whether there were enough mad people out there to take part (most of my committee, apparently, are not mad). I was very confident that people would flock to take part, but in Sept 2004 I started to wonder. I needed 20 people to make the trip possible, had only 6 certainties and about 10 in the ‘let me think about it’ category.

All the way through to the new-year I was secretly very worried. It had to happen: I am the Chief Executive; it’s my idea; it must succeed or else I am a failure and will have to resign out of embarrassment. The new year meant the event was actually being considered by people in the current year – it could go on the calendar, in the diary. It was real - not just a mad scheme by that mad Miall and suddenly it has started to come together. We are now 16 certainties, 3 almost certain to attend and over 15 in my ‘let me think about it category,’ and I have high hopes for at least 5 of those. So we are going, and the ‘forever ambitious’ Chief Executive is now wondering if he can get over 30 people to take part – maybe you’re one of them.

The Trip

We are flying out to Egypt on Monday 24th October, and assuming everyone wants to take the 2 day extra cost option to see the Pyramids and Sphinx, we will return on Wednesday 2nd November. We will be based on a Luxury Nile Cruiser and over 5 days will cover 400km’s taking in sites along the way such as the High Dam, Valley of the Kings and Queens the temples of Philae, the goddess Isis, Edfu, Karnak, Luxor and Ludes.

Included in the costs are the flights, Nile cruiser, security, doctor, tourist guide, police escort, plus bikes and backup support. The bikes are 21 gear hybrids (sorry that’s all I know just now). Also an air-conditioned coach will follow us every day allowing anyone feeling the pace can cool-down at the end of each leg.

I’ve promised to update OCW with my progress planning and executing this trip, so that others thinking about planning such as trip can benefit from my experience. So, watch this space for a final rousing ‘here we go’ article and the final and hopefully successful summary of the event itself.

Richard Miall (OSCAR Chief Executive/Chairman)

To understand more about the charity www.support-oscar.org
To take part email me on info@support-oscar.org
To sponsor us please go to www.justgiving.com/oscarnile