As part of the Lifecycle Foundation's annual fundraising challenge, JPA Owner and CEO Steve Cassar and Smart Technologies Limited Co-Founder and CEO Joseph Aquilina, together with 16 other cyclists and support crew will be cycling the near 2000km route from Buenos Aires in Argentina to Santiago de Chile in just 10 days, to raise money to support renal patients in Malta.
“The worst day on the bike is still better than the best day on dialysis,” says Mr Cassar, adding that after three years of preparation, COVID-19 travel bans and last-minute cancellations, the challenge will start in two weeks’ time."
This will be his first LifeCycle Challenge which he descrbes as "the perfect time for me to take the plunge, to experience two countries on my all-time bucket list and push my physical and mental limits to their extremes. But the most important part of this challenge is to raise money for kidney research in memory of my Nanna and improving patients’ lives whilst undergoing treatment at the Renal Unit in Malta.”
Speaking to MaltaCEOs.mt about the preparation for this upcoming challenge, Mr Aquilina said that "training is done into phases under the guidance of Alan Curry, the founder of LifeCycle" as he explained that the team is currently "clocking around 30 hours of training every week."
This will be Mr Aquilina’s third LifeCycle challenge "after Kenya and Tanzania in 2017 and Oman in 2018,” and he admitted that "mentally, you are never prepared enough as there are many factors which can change the dynamics of the challenge once there, but important is that you go with an open mindset - this year we are also a very strong team. Obviously this make you feel much more prepared."
The Smart Technologies Co-Founder and CEO confirmed that his primary aim for embarking on this journey yet again is to raise funds to support renal patients in Malta.
This initiative is being supported by Zaar. “We are proud to join together the power of Malta’s community and the amazing LifeCycle cyclist team" says Zaar Manager, Giselle Borg Olivier. “Through the generous donations and drive of each and every backer, this campaign is well on its way to reaching its funding goal and making a huge difference to the lives of renal patients in Malta.”
While the challenge is LifeCycle’s 22nd, it marks the Foundation’s first in South America. Since its inception, LifeCycle challenges have cycled more than 35,000km across 50 countries and five continents, raising an estimated €3,000,000 to help improve the lives of kidney disease patients.
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