Womens Charity Enters Tour of Southland

In a first for New Zealand’s premier cycling event, a team supporting a women’s charity will take the start line in this year’s Tour of Southland.

Team Pink Pilates Motatapu will not only be serious contenders in the tour but the six male riders will be also riding to raise money for the Pink Pilates Trust, an organisation set up to deliver individualised rehabilitation programmes to women who are recovering from cancer.

The team consists of Commonwealth Games representative Aaron Gate, James Canny, Andrew Hughson, Hamish Presbury and Sam Steele all of whom have achieved notable results on the road and track while racing together in the USA for Team Motatapu over the New Zealand winter. Talented climber, Sheldon Gorter of Hamilton, will make up the sixth rider. The charity is close to home for a number of the team members. The all male team insists that breast cancer affects everyone, not just women. Team Rider James Canny says:

"We all have mothers, sisters, aunties, girlfriends and friends who could be vulnerable to breast cancer. In fact each one of us knows someone close who has suffered with the disease and have seen the dreadful impact it can have on the patients life. Racing our bikes in support of a such great cause is awesome."

Team Rider Andrew Hughson says, “Having lost my father to cancer I know the huge impact cancer can have on people’s lives, I am very proud to be racing for Team Pink Pilates and raising awareness. It is a great charity with a positive outlook, I am sure the public will show their support for this great cause during the Tour".

James Canny says while the team wants to be noticed for it’s racing and their bikes will be sporting pink handle bar tape, their real sign of commitment to the cause will be when they all have their hair dyed pink before the start of the tour. “We will be at Kaos Hair Design on Sunday morning if anyone wants to come and support us,” he says.

“Team supporters will also collect donations in pink buckets during the Tour and 100% of the money raised will fund Southland women into the Pink Pilates programme,” he says.

Lou James, a New Zealand physiotherapist, clinical Pilates instructor and herself a World Triathlon Championship Gold Medal winner, spent four years developing the programme, which was specifically designed to help women diagnosed with breast cancer regain their physical strength, improve their body confidence, and incorporate exercise into their lifestyle.

Lou James who will be coming to Southland to follow the tour and support the team, says over 50 women in Southland are diagnosed with Breast Cancer each year.

“In the last six months we have been able to help ten local women in their recovery from cancer by helping them through the Pink Pilates programme, but we need more funding to accommodate all those who are wanting to participate in the programme,” she says.

Lou says that bucking the trend against the centralisation of health care services is core to the Pink Pilates programme, with the programme being delivered in 25 regions throughout New Zealand by licensed Pink Pilates practitioners.
The Pink Pilates Trust has two Southland Patrons, Tom Pryde and Dr Caroline Corkill.

Lou says; “Our goal nationwide is to fund 2000 thousand women through the Pink Pilates Programme by raising $1 million this year.”
“Supporters of Pink Pilates wear pink laces in their sport shoes, it is symbolic of helping survivors of breast cancer to take the first steps on their road to recovery.” Lou says.

Last weekend the Auckland Rugby team took the field in pink laces in their ITM Cup match against the Tasman Makos to show their support.