DTUK1210

May 3-9, 201028 Events United Kingdom Edition L ast year, Ian Mills, a partner at Torrington Implant Clinic and Aca- demic Clinical Fellow at Pe- ninsula Dental School, along with Simon Hill, the owner of Wyndham House Dental Prac- tice in Llantwit Major, Cardiff, organised a dental implant conference in Cardiff to coin- cide with the Wales vs. England Rugby International at the Mil- lennium Stadium. It was the second year a conference had been organised with all profits donated to the Wooden Spoon Charity, which helps disadvantaged children. This year however, they decided to have a break from conference organising and do something completely different. A new plan ‘Ian came up with an idea that we could go and watch Scotland play England at Murrayfield and then cycle from Edinburgh to Cardiff in time to watch Wales play Italy,’ explained Simon. As an ex-international rugby play- er, he was fairly undaunted by such a sporting challenge, but was mightily impressed with Ian’s enthusiasm for such an idea. ‘I was amazed that Ian had suggested this, as the last bike he’d been on was a Chopper,’ said Simon rather ungraciously. By the time Ian realised what he had let himself in for, it was too late to back out. He obvi- ously wasn’t prepared to suffer alone, so quickly recruited Mar- tin Docking a dental technician from Cornwall, Adrian Watts a consultant in Restorative Den- tistry in Cardiff and a couple of other unsuspecting friends. So on the 14 March 2010, a group of nine cyclists, three support ve- hicles and an orthopaedic sur- geon, set off from Murrayfield to pedal the 450 miles to Cardiff. An idyllic adventure The trip took them over snow- covered mountains in the Bor- ders, up hills and dales in the Lake District and through the beautiful Brecon Beacons. ‘The first few days were fair- ly hard, but day four was cer- tainly the most difficult. We cy- cled 94 miles from Warrington to Church Stretton in Shropshire which included an unplanned detour with some hideous hills,’ explained Adrian. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, Adrian cycled the whole way on a single-speed bike, earning him the coveted yellow jersey, which was presented at the end of the tour. ‘I’m still not sure whether the award was for recognition of my courage or my stupidity,” said Dr Watts, ‘but I have a suspicion it may have been the latter.’ The group covered the dis- tance in six days and arrived at the Millennium Stadium in time for kick off. ‘To arrive in Cardiff on match day and be greeted by family, friends and rugby fans was fantastic. To then cycle into the Millennium Stadi- um before the game was incred- ible, and really quite emotional,’ said Martin. The group managed to raise over £9,000 for Wooden Spoon, which will be spent on local groups in Wales and Devon. ‘It was a marvellous experience, although I’ve had to do all my dentistry standing up since I got back,’ quipped Ian who is based in Devon. With hindsight, organising a conference might not seem such hard work after all, and Ian and Simon are already planning the 2011 Conference to coincide with the Wales vs. England game. We have it on good authority that Ian will not be arriving by bike. About the charity Wooden Spoon is a children’s charity that improves the quality and prospect of life for children and young people who are dis- advantaged physically, mentally or socially. Strongly supported by the rugby community, it was formed in 1983, when the Eng- land rugby team received the ‘Wooden Spoon’. Since then, Spoon has spent £15 million helping over 500,000 children and young peo- ple across the UK and Ireland. Spoon delivers rugby projects to help children and young peo- ple combat bullying, violence, crime, obesity and discrimina- tion. It also makes grants to spe- cial projects that meet its aims, which have included hydrother- apy pools, young people’s life- skills centres and sensory rooms. Wooden Spoon now raises over £1.5 million a year through na- tional events such as the Spoon Challenges and through regional volunteer fundraising. The charity’s patrons are HRH The Princess Royal, the governing bodies of Rugby Un- ion in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the Rugby Foot- ball League. It has the support of a host of rugby legends and oth- er high profile celebrities from the worlds of music, sport and the media. To learn more about Wooden Spoon and its projects, visit www.woodenspoon.com. DT Pedal power A team of dental professionals combine cycling, rugby and adventure to raise much-needed funds for children’s charity Wooden Spoon T wo dentists managed to raise over their tar- get sponsorship amount when they ran the Flora London Marathon in aid of dental char- ity, Bridge2Aid. Dr Katherine Opie-Smith and Dr Chris Waith completed the 30th London Marathon on Sun- day 25 April with over 35,000 other runners and together, raised over £5800. Both have previously worked in Tanzania as part of Bridge2Aid’s Dental Volunteer Programme (DVP). ‘It was definitely a good day,’ said Katherine, who is also a Bridge2Aid Trustee and works at the Dulwich Village Den- tal Practice in London. ‘My time was 4:35:55. I was 64 seconds slower than when I did it in 2008 but ultimately I had fun. Need some time to recover though – lots of blisters!’ Pre-race nerves ‘At first I thought I was going into it a tad under-prepared,’ re- ported Chris who works at Cahill Dental Care Practice in Bolton, Greater Manchester. ‘I had shin splints and a sprained ankle in the lead up to the Marathon and I was just praying that sheer willpower will get me through! The last six miles or so were my hardest but the crowds were amazing and kept me going with constant encouragement and cheering or the occasional crafty penny chew! ‘All in all, it left me extreme- ly tired and emotional but the thought of my gorgeous family Michelle and baby Dylan, who have supported me throughout, as well as those amazing people I met in Tanzania last year kept me going until the end.’ Chris completed the Mara- thon in 4:15:34 and is continuing his support of Bridge2Aid by en- tering the BUPA Great Manches- ter Run on 16 May and the BUPA Great North Run on 19 Septem- ber. To donate, please visit his Just Giving page, www.justgiv- ing.com/chriswaith. The funds that Katherine and Chris have raised will go dire- ctly towards Bridge2Aid’s wo- rk of helping Tanzanians who live in rural, remote locations to have access to safe, emerge- ncy dentistry. Stop press! Bridge2Aid would like to ask for some support for our BUPA Lon- don 10K runners who are taking part in the challenge on 31 May. To find out more, please visit www.bridge2aid.org or email fundraising@bridge2aid.org. About the charity Bridge2Aid (B2A) is a dental and community development charity working in the Mwanza region of North West Tanzania. We started full scale operations in 2004 and work closely with the Tanzanian Government to deliver aspects of their dental strategy. We operate a not-for-profit dental clinic in the city of Mwanza (Hope Dental Centre), and have a community development programme for the disabled community based at Bukumbi Care Centre. Our focus is sustainabil- ity – empowering local people to improve their own lives over the long-term. We have Trustees and administration in the Unit- ed Kingdom and we are a UK registered charity no. 1092481. Bridge2Aid is a registered Non- Governmental Organisation (N- GO) in Tanzania with additional Tanzania-based Advisors. The four key aspects of Bridge2Aid’s vision are: • To provide primary dental care and oral health education to communities in Tanzania • To equip and further train lo- cal health personnel to provide emergency dentistry to rural communities • To care for and empower the poor and marginalised in Tanza- nian society • To provide opportunities for UK dental professionals and others to use their skills to serve Tanzania, as locums or partici- pants on the Dental Volunteer Programme (DVP). Further information, con- tact Lucy Jenkins by emailing lucy@bridge2aid.org or Mark Topley by emailing mark@ bridge2aid.org. DT Keep on running Two willing dentists take part in London’s 30th Marathon to raise money for Tanazanian charity, Bridge2Aid From left to right: Martin Docking, Ian Mills, Simon Hill and Adrian Watts.