Wounded veterans lead 18,500 mile Hero Ride

A record number of 100 wounded Heroes, collectively covering 18,500 miles, lead the largest major gathering of Afghanistan and Iraq veteran cyclists since the end of the Afghanistan conflict.

Many of the wounded are cycling from the South West and they will be backed by over 1,000 charity supporters cycling from all four points of the compass to raise vital funds for Help for Heroes.

Despite the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan coming to an end, a new Freedom of Information (FOI) act request to the Ministry of Defence from Help for Heroes has revealed that 32,036 Servicemen and women have been medically discharged between January 1995 and March 2014*. This is similar amount to the population of Exmouth.

The Hero Ride West 280 is covering a mammoth 280 miles in 5 days before joining up with the other cyclists at Windsor Racecourse for Heroes Sunday. The riders set off from the Help for Heroes’ Plymouth Recovery Centre on Wednesday (17 June) and arrived in Exeter after 50miles at the end of day one. Nine wounded service personnel and fifteen fundraisers are doing this leg of the event.

One group of these fundraisers has come from Interserve Plc, who have offices in both Plymouth and Exeter. Hayley Green who works for Interserve says she has supported Help for Heroes for a long time; “I spent a year working in Iraq alongside the troops, and through Interserve I was also involved in the build for Help for Heroes Recovery Centre in Plymouth which was an incredible experience. Help for Heroes is always one of those charities that I will continue to do my bit for.”

Help for Heroes Band of Brother member, Greig Phillips, 34, was on a routine patrol with RAF Regiment in Afghanistan in 2009 when he stepped on an IED. He lost his right leg below the knee in the blast and was quickly flown back to Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham for treatment. When he moved home to Torpoint, he was one of the first to benefit from the newly built Help for Heroes Recovery Centre in Plymouth and has recently started a job working in the Help for Heroes Sports Recovery Team.

“After the incident I didn’t really know what to do with myself. Once the Help for Heroes Plymouth Recovery Centre opened it gave me more drive to want to do things. It has given me something to focus on again.

“I signed up to Hero Ride to challenge myself to see how far I’ve come in the recovery process. I’ve never done a ride that big before and it’s great to be raising awareness of Help for Heroes who I’ve got a lot from in the last few years. There are 100 wounded, injured or sick servicemen and women riding this year and it would be great if the public could get behind everyone taking part joining in the #Backthe100 campaign”.

Hero Ride 2015, sponsored by Ginsters of Cornwall, is raising funds to provide the critical ongoing support needed by our injured servicemen and women.

To sponsor the 100 ‘injured’ riders, #backthe100 here.

The Plymoth Recovery Centre helps serving (as part of an on-going relationship with the MOD) and veteran wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women from all services across the South West.