Karitane couple Pat Sivertsen and her husband, David Shaw,
rest after a training session for a 475km sponsored bike
ride in Cambodia. Photo by Bill Campbell.
As part of a 60th birthday challenge to do something
different, Karitane woman Pat Sivertsen (60) and her husband
David Shaw (58) are training on East Otago roads for a 475km
sponsored bike ride in Cambodia next month.
The nine-day ride will be undertaken with 20 other sponsored
NZ riders raising money for a World Vision project to install
a clean drinking water system in a village in the Koh Andaet
district.
The rural areas in Cambodia lack clean drinking water and
health services are limited.
About $60,000 will be raised from the NZ riders' sponsorship
and other fundraising towards the cost of the drinking water
project, Ms Sivertsen said To help raise sponsorship money
the couple are running a second-hand book sale in the
Karitane Bowling Club's rooms at Stornoway St, Karitane, on
the Saturday of Labour weekend from 10am to 2pm.
This is their last fundraiser.
The couple have raised $8,500 through donations, an Easter
garage sale, the collection and sale of obsolete NZ coins and
corporate sponsorship.
Ms Sivertsen and Mr Shaw are cycling up to 100km a week in
the Karitane area and between Karitane and Dunedin to get in
practice for the Cambodian ride.
It will be a lot hotter in Cambodia, with temperatures likely
to average about 30degC when the nine-day ride starts in mid
November at the Ankor Wat temple, Mr Shaw said.
The countryside will be flat, a change from the hilly East
Otago coast roads the couple train on.
The couple have long supported World Vision and sponsored
children through the charity.
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