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| NEWS STORY |
SUPPORT HARRY'S RIDE FOR RAY
Joe Curran
19 February 2009
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Ray Kennedy was known for marauding up and down the wing for Reds during his playing days, and now Main Stand season-ticket holder Harry Trow will be biking on a tiny moped from Valencia to the Bernabeu and all the way back to Anfield in his honour.
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Taking in both legs of the Uefa Champions League first knockout round tie with Real Madrid, 60-year-old retired landscape designer Harry Trow will travel just over 1,300 miles on a 50cc scooter to raise money for the Ray of Hope Appeal, an inspiring initiative to raise money and awareness for Ray's ongoing struggle with Parkinson's Disease.
"When I heard about the Ray of Hope Appeal being launched in January of last year, I started to think about something I could do to help raise a bit of money for him," says Harry.
"He was a great player and always took the time to chat to me when I drove the team bus for a short time back in the seventies.
"It's very sad that he contracted the disease while he was still playing, but hopefully this trip can help raise a bit of money to go towards helping him and his family.
"Given that he has given me and Liverpool fans all over the world so many great memories, I think this is the least I can do to help him buy all the equipment he needs on a daily basis."
Harry is set to fly out to Alicante for the first leg of his journey on Monday (23rd), where he will travel by train to Valencia to pick up his 20-year-old Derbi FDX 50CC moped, which will be his only method of travel for the whole journey.
Sleeping over in various campsites along the way, he also plans to collect surplus funds outside Madrid airport after the game and to raise funds in various pubs around the ground. He won't be hard to spot - just look out for the guy with the tired-looking scooter and give as much as you can.
After that he heads up through Valladolid, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Nantes, Cherbourg and across the English Channel to Portsmouth, then up through England and to Anfield.
"At first I wanted to buy a traditional moped with pedals, but could only find this kind of bike with a very small engine," adds Harry.
"I know from experience that these bikes can go up to 50mph, but it's a very long journey so I'll have to go much slower than that to make sure I don't burn out the engine.
"But I'm going to factor in a few spare days in case anything goes wrong. All in all I think I'll have to do around 150 miles a day in the two weeks between each leg.
"It should be a very challenging trip, though and I'm looking forward to doing it. I've always wanted to undertake a trip likes this and have been a bike lover of many years."
Harry hopes this will only be the first of many trips of this kind and says: "I'd like to embark on a charitable trip for each of Liverpool's European ties in the future and include a host of other charities which are local to the Liverpool area.
"Ray's cause will always be the main rider on my moped, but I have a niece who has leukaemia so I'd like to include a charity to do with that on any future excursions.
He will also be collecting money for the Ray of Hope Appeal just before Sunday's league game with Manchester City at the Barlow Arms near the stadium.
Click here to donate to the Ray of Hope Appeal>>
Read Harry's blog here>>
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