A Little History Lesson

For those of you who don’t know I love history!!  And it always amazes me when I am somewhere where there is history that is so old!  Well here in Ringsted, Denmark there is some amazing history.  So here is your history lesson for this area of Denmark.  I went for a short walk today and headed into town which is less than 1km from where we are staying.

Just across from the town square in Ringsted is a huge church, St. Bendt’s Church.  It is all that is left of Ringsted Kloster, a Benedictine Monastery that burned down in the early 18^th century.  But it goes back much further than that.

It dates back to about 1170 when it replaced a travertine church from about 1080. It is considered to be one of Denmark's architecturally finest churches. Furthermore, it is of special historical interest as it is first Royal church in Denmark and it houses the tombs of many of Denmark's earlier monarchs and noblemen.

The church was originally dedicated to St. Mary. In 1157, Saint Canute Lavard's bones were moved into a new chapel in the church with the approval of St. Canute's son, Valdemar the Great. Many miracles were said to have occurred there and the church immediately became a popular site for pilgrimages. With the funds raised from the pilgrims and thanks to Valdemar's royal patronage, the abbey church was expanded and, in 1170, was dedicated with great ceremony to Benedict of Nursia.

Valdemar had from the beginning designed the church for the Danish monarchy. He took advantage of the inaugural celebrations not only to have the relics of his father, St. Canute, enshrined but, also a devil statue erected in his honor and above all, to have his seven-year-old son Canute crowned and appointed by the archbishop in order to ensure the succession.

I could go into the history of Valdemar but it would go on for a while, suffice to say he was King of Denmark from 1146 – 1182 and his tomb is located in this church.

From 1182 to 1341 all Danish Kings and Queens were buried in St. Bendt’s and after 1341 they were then buried at the Roskilde Cathedral.

Part of the painted ceiling



It was amazing walking through this beautiful church, with original carvings on the floor, extremely old artifacts on display in cabinets and the beautifully painted ceilings, you could feel the history and I was actually able to feel like I was part of it for a short time.

Today was my recovery day and it was really nice to take the time by myself to explore some of the amazing history in this town.  But it is now down to the pointy end of the journey.  Racing starts tomorrow, but I don’t race until Friday.  All the Australian riders are ready to do their best, unfortunately we have lost one of the men’s tandem pair due to a crash yesterday, a broken collar bone and bruised hip.  But as the pilot Scott wrote on his Facebook page “Fate doesn't always deal the ideal hand! But some things are just out of our control.”  Very wise words from a young man who had an amazing cycling future ahead of him.

Next stop, Roskilde and the Time Trial!

The Training Continues

The team has really settled in well in Denmark, but unfortunately there has been a bug going around.  So I have been moved to my own room because my roommate Sue came down with it and the last thing I need with my crappy immune system is to get it too!

We have all been to the course a number of times now and are getting really used to the narrow roads and tight corners.  Unfortunately one of our hand cyclists had a crash yesterday.  He is alright, missing a bit of skin on his forearms and hip but not seriously injured.  If anyone watched the Tour de France and saw the rider who flew into the barbed wire fence, well I think MT did even better!  He rolled his hand cycle and flew between the electrified wire fencing!  Not even touching it.  Unfortunately for his coach, who didn’t realize it was live, touched it and got a little zap!  Locals to the rescue… pulled one of the steaks out of the ground and lifted the wire high enough that they could push and pull MT under the fence.  I think if it had been me that would have been the end of my day!  But these guys are tough, he got back on his hand cycle and finished the session, minus skin, bent axles and all.  There is a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. which epitomizes these cyclists as winners or not: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”  The winners will always rise to the challenge!



Phil one of the pilots trying the trike
Photo courtesy of Matt Formston



On a funnier note and lighter side to yesterday, a couple of the men’s tandem riders decided they wanted to have a ride on my trike!  Most did okay considering the car park we were in was flat!  But one of the pilots Scotty was having a really hard time!  He kept saying that it wouldn’t turn left…”Scotty” I said “you just have to turn the handle bars!”  It is very different than riding a two wheeled bike as there is no need to balance it yourself so that can be a bit weird!  Next I will make them ride on the road to see how hard it is when the road isn’t flat!

The weather has been great since we arrived, that is until last night when the rain started.  I knew that we were going to get some rain but it has been raining all night and is still raining.  Because of that and logistics of the day it was best that I do a session on the trainer.  This was alright, except for the mosquitoes that I had to kill while I was spinning away!

I also spoke with my friend Irene, who is from Copenhagen, today and I am really looking forward to catching up with her next Monday for a tour of the city with her!

Racing begins in 3 days and I am getting really excited.  A bit nervous but I like that kind of nervous energy, it gets the adrenaline going…I just have to save it for the day!

Life in Ringsted

We are well and truly settled in Denmark.  We are staying in the small town of Ringsted about an hour’s drive from Copenhagen.  Ringsted is about 30 minutes from where we will be racing in Roskilde. The town of Ringsted is a pretty one with a lot of very old buildings which really isn’t surprising!

We are now on day 4 of our trip and we have been able to go out and have a look at the course that we will be racing on.  We first drove the course and there were a number of comments that the roads were so narrow.  Think of watching the Tour de France and how narrow some of those roads are…yup that’s what I’m talking about.  It will be interesting to see how the trikes and the tandem bikes go around the corners with such narrow roads.  It just means that I will have to be out front, that way no one can try to get by me!

I am surprised at how well I have pulled up in regards to jetlag.  I’ve had a couple of great night’s sleep and I am feeling fantastic.  I’ve had two really easy rides just to adapt to the time change and to be honest I am raring to go!

I am also surprised at how expensive ordinary things are.  We tend to think that we pay a lot for coffee but with the Denmark Kroner at 5 for 1 we went to have a coffee the other day and were charged 35 Kroner a whopping 7 dollars!  Good thing I don’t drink a lot of coffee!

We have other teams staying at the same hotel.  New Zealand arrived today along with one of our Aussie riders, Jing, who is racing for Chinese Taipei.  The Americans should be arriving very soon as well.  So it is starting to get exciting with the other teams arriving and I am sure when we are out on the course tomorrow we will see quite a few more riders!

We've Arrived

Well the last 24 hours was spent sitting on a couple of planes in order to get to Denmark.  We flew Singapore Airlines and the first challenge was getting my trike on board without having to pay extra.  You see it weighs a bit more than you are allowed!  We had sponsorship from Singapore Airlines for an extra 15kgs but my trike alone weighs 22kg and then with the bag I guessing I was definitely over 30kgs!

I had however put disabled signs on the sides of the bag and when I got to the counter was asked if it was a wheelchair.  I didn’t say yes and I didn’t say no, but when the girl saw we had sponsorship she asked her supervisor and he told her to put it through as 14kgs!  Bonus!!!

The flight to Singapore’s Changi Airport felt pretty fast and was uneventful.  We then had 4 hours to wait at the airport and that is where I met up with everyone else on the team.  The second bonus came when I got on the flight to Copenhagen and found that I was down at the back of the plane right where the plane curves, which meant more leg room than any of the other seats!!  Bonus!!!  But this flight was to be much longer, 12 hours in fact.

About half way through the flight I must have finally fallen asleep but woke up with a start.  I have no idea why but when I looked at the flight path on the TV in front of me we were right over top of Afghanistan and the city of Kabul.  It felt really weird…talk about worlds apart.  Here I was heading to the beautiful country of Denmark and right below me, just over 12,000 meters below me, people are fighting for their lives!  It really made me think about how lucky we are to have been born where we were.  I was actually fascinated at that point with looking at that map and all the Middle East countries where there is no peace.  So needless to say sleep did not come easy over the next 6 hours!

We finally made it to Denmark with all our bikes/hand cycles/trike and gear, loaded it all on two trucks, piled into 3 other vehicles and headed to Ringsted where we are staying at the Scandic  Ringsted Hotel which is about 50 km from Copenhagen and about 20 kms from where we will be racing in Roskilde.  The weather has been beautiful today and hopefully it will keep up for the next couple of weeks.  We all then had to put all the bikes/hand cycles and my trike together.

Tomorrow we are heading to Roskilde to have a ride around the course which I am really looking forward to.

I have even become very patriotic in that I had my nails done with a map of Australia on each nail! For someone who doesn’t wear nail polish very often it is a bit “out there” for me, but hey, I’m here to win for Australia!

Live the Dream

One year tomorrow is the start of the 2012 London Paralympics!  It seems such a long way away, but in reality it will come around very quickly.  In 3 more days my first step in getting to London becomes reality as I head to Denmark for the World Para-cycling Championships.

I still have a couple of days of training left, but I have done my last ride on the road and I am as ready as I ever will be.  My training has gone really well over the last few weeks and I probably had the best ride yesterday I have ever had in training!  At the “young” age of 50 this is not what I had expected I would be doing at this point in time of my life…but hey I never have been conventional!

My dream for the last 4 years has been focused on the Paralympics, albeit I thought in a different sport, but that dream has never wavered.  When one door closes we are always told that another one will open, you just have to look for it.  Well the door to cycling has opened very quickly and I have had a number of wonderful people helping me to do the very best that I can possibly do.  So I would just like to thank those who have believed and helped me to this point:

Russ, my husband, has probably been my biggest supporter. Without Russ I would have a hard time putting all the time and effort into training.  He has never once said “Stop” or “Why are you doing this”, he just lets me do what I feel I have to do.

The Victorian Institute of Sport – all the staff have been so supportive and excited about my change of sport and without the support of Crooksy, my physical preparation coach in the gym over the last 4 years I would definitely not be where I am right now.

Helen and Bob Kelly, for taking me under their tutelage in the art of cycling!  Although I don’t think Helen is too fond of riding my trike!

Morey Wickham Chartered Accountants – thanks to Chris and Jim, my first ever sponsors!

My family and friends who at times must think I am nuts but who believe and support me in my goals.

Without all these pieces of my life coming together I wouldn’t be heading over to Denmark this week!  I have looked forward to and envisioned in great detail my dream and the future I want, now it is time to step forward and make it happen!

Pay it Forward

Okay so I stole the title from a movie, but it is the only way I can think of to title what I wanted to say today.

You know life is funny, we all have our ups and downs but for the most part all my family and friends have a pretty good life.  We have a roof over our heads and food on the table.  Yes we dream of doing some things that we may not ever get to do, but that is what dreams are for aren’t they?  Eventually most of us will get to live those dreams, whether they be to travel somewhere exotic or to take that course we have always wanted to.

There are also a lot of people in this world who because of circumstances will never be able to experience their dreams unless we help them!

Most people who know me know that one of the most important things in my life is the 24 Hour Mega Swim.  An event I started 11 years ago at the Fitzroy Pool in Melbourne.  It was to raise money (just for that year) for the Go For Gold Scholarships, a program run by the MS Society of Victoria (as they were known then).  These scholarships go to people living with MS to follow a dream.

I am passionate about the scholarships because for someone with MS they can be life changing!  This 1 year of the 24 Hour Mega Swim has gone on to become 11 years and not just 1 swim now but about 38 swims around the country as well as $3.2 million raised, over $1.35 million in scholarships given out and the rest spent through a Financial Assistance program and programs for people with MS.

On August the 14^th this year I had the privilege of handing out $80,000 to people living with MS so that they can follow their dreams!  This was just the Victorian winners and this is what all the hard work during the year is about. 

There were so many different dreams; Prue who wants to start an online business and help employ others with MS, Clara an amazing cellist who because of her MS needs to modify how she plays, Paula, Kate and Catherine who want to create gardens at their homes to give them a special place to relax and unwind, Byron who wants to take his wife on the trip of a life time to thank her for all the caring she has done for him over the years, Ingrid who is a world class animator and wants the whole world to see her work, Anne who has just completed her first short film script and now wants to film it, Muna who wants to see her mother after 7 years because they were separated when fleeing from Zimbabwe, George who wants to create a studio where he can write, record and produce his own music and Bronwyn, now bed ridden who wants to see her only daughter get married.  These dreams are what make it all worthwhile!

So thank you to all the swimmers, volunteers and community groups who have helped make these dreams come true.  You have unequivocally “Paid it Forward”, your unselfishness in taking the time to swim, cook, volunteer and raise money has made this all happen.  You are all my very own heroes!!!

The only words to describe you all are in the words of Christopher Reeve “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.  Once you choose hope, anything’s possible”.

To the 23 Victorian winners anything is possible now!

Half a Century and Counting

I am still finding it hard to believe that I am now 3 days past 50!  My brain honestly still thinks I am in my 20’s, my body definitely knows that I am not!  But who am I to argue with my brain.

My birthday celebrations seemed to have carried on for just over a week, starting with a lunch at Guy Grossi’s Florentino’s in Melbourne with my friend Peaches.  It was a lovely lunch that went for just over 3 hours.  Then off to the Ballet at the State Theatre on Tuesday night with another friend Justine.  It was actually for both of our birthdays.  Margo (my aussie mom) came to the city Wednesday and we went for lunch with friends Laurie and Kristy on Thursday!  Then the big night Friday!

I had friends from a number of different areas in my life, swimming, rowing, MS and family.  I was really looking forward to all of them meeting each other, so to help them connect I came up with name tags and how I knew them. 

There were drinks, food, cake, cards, presents and then…speeches!!  I was dragged on to a small stage where a number of poems and messages from family in Canada were read and then a couple of friends had their say.  To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement!  I am never lost for words, as most people who know me can attest to.  But on this night I was.  I thought I was prepared, I knew what I wanted to say but when it came time to say it my brain froze.  I wanted to explain how intertwined all these people were, even if they didn’t know each other.  So now through this medium I can!

It all starts with Margo, meeting her and others at the very first World Police and Fire Games in California in 1985.  Because I had met them I was able to come to Australia for a holiday and because of a number of holidays here I met my husband Russ.  Upon marrying I moved here and lived in Fitzroy where I met all my swimming friends and it was these friends, who when I was diagnosed with MS in 1998, were my rocks of support while dealing with this diagnosis.  It was because of my diagnosis that I met other people with MS and the MS staff who were there at the party.  And because of my MS diagnosis I was asked by the Paralympic Committee to take up rowing, hence the rowing friends in attendance.  So there you have it everyone connected in some way!

My actual birthday on Saturday was filled with Skype calls and phone calls from family and friends in Canada and a day off from training.  It was lovely just to be able to spend some quality time with Margo.

But now the celebrations of that momentous day are over and life returns to normal.  But I reflect on all the people who helped me celebrate and they are all people who play an important role in my life.  I feel very blessed to have them all for friends.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “ The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it’s the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friend.”

Thank you all for a magnificent first 50 years and I look forward to the next 50!