A duo have completed their charity skate-athon over nearly 100 miles \u2013 despite it not ending the way they hoped.<\/p>\n
Gavin Weir, 49, from Newbury, and long-time friend Ian Chapman, from Lancashire, took on the mammoth challenge of rollerblading across the Netherlands for a cause close to their hearts.<\/p>\n
Gavin Weir charity Rollerskate challenge for Newbury Soup Kitchen<\/p>\n
It was all in the name of charity, as the pair intended to skate from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, to Helmond, 87 miles away, to raise money for Newbury Soup Kitchen.<\/p>\n
With 28 miles to complete on their first day, April 15, Mr Weir and Mr Chapman set off straight from the airport, with only a pair of rollerblades and a rucksack each.<\/p>\n
From months of training, after not skating for 37 years, the moment was finally here.<\/p>\n
The two hadn\u2019t skated in the week before the challenge to reduce the chance of any injuries, so it took a while to re-adjust, said Mr Weir.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were a bit wobbly to start off with, it took about an hour to get used to it and get our balance but after that it was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout their journey Ian and Gavin travelled through many small picturesque villages – just like this one!<\/p>\n
Their route, following the bike lanes, took them through mostly flat landscapes, with many quaint little Dutch towns and vast expanses of green countryside along the way.<\/p>\n
The two have been friends for 27 years and chose Holland as the destination for their trip as it has \u201cno potholes and bigger lanes to skate on\u201d, said Mr Weir.<\/p>\n
By the end of the first day, they had made it to a hostel in Utrecht \u2013 where many people were interested in the challenge, he said.<\/p>\n
They had successfully made it to the first checkpoint with no injuries and spirits still high, despite Mr Weir\u2019s skates looking a bit worse for wear.<\/p>\n
Which way to go next?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey weren\u2019t looking great, but I tried them on and they felt fine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The next morning, Mr Weir and Mr Chapman were on their way to the second checkpoint of Oss, making this the longest stretch of the journey, when disaster struck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [the skates] just fell to bits,\u201d said Mr Weir.<\/p>\n
The two had 33 miles to complete on the second day, and they just knew they had to get through it, said Mr Weir.<\/p>\n
Gavin Weir charity Rollerskate challenge for Newbury Soup Kitchen<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to Ian, we\u2019ve got two choices \u2013 you can walk or skate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The friends made the decision to stick together and walk, despite Mr Chapman\u2019s blades being still intact, and travelled back to more central Amsterdam to buy another pair and carry on the challenge.<\/p>\n
Once they returned, to their dismay they found another hurdle to their journey \u2013 many of the shops were shut.<\/p>\n
Mr Weir eventually found a sports shop that was open, but once he tried on one of the remaining pairs left, it was a size too small, and the next available pair was \u00a3300.<\/p>\n
Collectively, the two decided from this point onwards they would have to finish the challenge by any means possible, even by foot.<\/p>\n
They returned to their accommodation in Oss, and carried on the next morning \u2013 preparing to walk 26 miles in one day.<\/p>\n
Nearly there…on the final leg, Ian and Gavin were joined by the owner of Helmond football club for support.<\/p>\n
Mr Weir and Mr Chapman powered through the final leg of their journey, and on their arrival at the finish line, a pub in Helmond, they were welcomed by around 100 people who had come to celebrate with them.<\/p>\n
They had done it \u2013 the crowd of their family, friends and fellow football fans cheered and released flares as they finally came to the end of their challenge.<\/p>\n
A celebratory pint was had by the pair, who spoke to the local Eindhoven newspaper about their triumph.<\/p>\n
Cheers! Ian and Gavin celebrate the end of their journey with a well-deserved pint<\/p>\n
Despite the unexpected ending, Mr Weir said the trip was still a success.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur pride was a bit down and damaged but you can\u2019t help things like this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had our ups and downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started and finished together, that\u2019s the main thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gavin celebrates the end of his journey with friends<\/p>\n
Mr Weir said they spent the rest of the weekend in Helmond resting with a few drinks, and even saw Helmond\u2019s football team win 2-0 against Venlo to round off their celebrations.<\/p>\n
Mr Weir hopes, in spite of all the challenges, to have done his job in promoting Newbury Soup Kitchen:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money\u2019s great, but it\u2019s all about raising awareness of these charities.\u201d<\/p>\n
At present, Mr Weir has raised \u00a31,586 for the charity, but \u201cI\u2019m hopefully looking to raise \u00a32,000 by the end of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A duo have completed their charity skate-athon over nearly 100 miles \u2013 despite it not ending the way…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5372,5371,6,5373,5370],"class_list":{"0":"post-5855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-netherlands","8":"tag-charity","9":"tag-human-interest","10":"tag-netherlands","11":"tag-newbury","12":"tag-quirky"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}