GOUGH ENJOYS BIG BIKE RIDE 2 Being touched by tragedy made Darren Gough determined to take part in Big Bike Ride 2 which is currently taking place in the south of England. The bike ride, which started in Truro on Friday and will end at the Kia Oval on Tuesday October 13, involves around 70 riders in a 400 mile journey to raise money for the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust, sponsored by Royal London, and the Tom Maynard Trust. Gough, the former England and Yorkshire pace bowler, has seen at first hand the work that the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust has done for his former Yorkshire team mate Jamie Hood, who was paralysed from the neck down in a car accident in South Africa in 1996. The PCA Benevolent fund has since helped fund a voice-activated computer and foreign holidays for Hood who will soon take delivery of a specially-adapted vehicle. Gough is also close friends with Matthew Maynard, the Somerset director of cricket and former England and Glamorgan batsman, who set up the Tom Maynard Trust after his son, a Surrey batsman, died in tragic circumstances three years ago. ” The PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust is a great charity, we all know that,” Gough said. ” Going through your cricketing career, the PCA support you from an early age filling you in on the dos and don’ts. Some of the older guys who were playing cricket before the PCA became as strong as it is now didn’t have insurance and have fallen on hard times. The PCA are the first ones there to support them. ” I played with Jamie Hood at Yorkshire. We were doing pre-season, he went away and came back in a wheelchair paralysed from the neck down. He was a young lad and a very talented player but that was the end of his career. ” I’ve also watched the videos that the PCA produce about other players they have helped, people like Winston Davis who I played against when he was at Northamptonshire. ” To see former players get help when they most need it and keeping them involved in the cricket community is fantastic. ” I’ve seen one of my team mates suffer injuries that left him in a wheelchair but Surrey have been really hard hit by the deaths of a number of players in recent years and that has been really hard for them. ” One of those was Tom Maynard who I knew for a long time. He used to come on tour when his Dad was England batting coach. ” I played against Tom and Matthew and his Dad used to coach me so I am very close to the family. ” The Tom Maynard Trust has been set up in Tom’s memory to help other talented young sportsmen and women and that is the other charity that the Big Bike Ride 2 is supporting which is also a fantastic cause.” Gough took part in the first three days of Big Bike Ride 2 which covered around 250 miles with legs from Truro to Instow in North Devon, Instow to Taunton and a 100-mile ride from Somerset’s Taunton headquarters to the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. ” The first two days were very challenging with a lot of hills but the third day was great fun, one of the best days of cycling I have had,” Gough said. ” We went at a fast pace which is what I am used to and we did 100 miles in the day which is something I hadn’t done before which I was really chuffed to bits with. ” It has been great fun meeting lots of people and helping to push others through some challenging times over the three days.” Gough proved a big hit with youngsters at the community cricket clubs that the BBR2 riders stopped off at along the way including Lanhydrock in Cornwall, Holsworthy and North Devon in Devon, Sparkford in Somerset and Sutton Veny in Wiltshire. ” The turnout at local clubs has been excellent,” Gough said. ” We’ve signed lots of autographs for the kids and everyone has made us feel welcome. They have put on lovely lunches and traditional cricket teas. You don’t get them anymore. We’ve really enjoyed and appreciated it. We’ve got some hungry riders on this trip and they have really tucked in.” The BBR2 also have Gough to renew friendships with former Yorkshire team mates Alex Morris, Gareth Batty, Mathew Wood and Gavin Hamilton. ” Some of these guys I played with at Yorkshire when they were coming through. Some of the stories we were telling on the way round on the bikes were hilarious,” Gough said. It brings back so many memories. It makes you feel young again. ” There are lots of ex-cricketers I have met on this ride. It’s been great to catch up with them. When you are retired from playing you don’t really see these guys unless you go to a dinner. So to spend three or four days with them doing this event has been fantastic.” Jodie Kidd, the fashion model and television personality, joined the BBR2 riders for the last two legs from Southampton to the BrightonandHoveJobs.com County Ground in Hove on Monday October 12 and from Hove to the Kia Oval on Tuesday October 13. She has joined two members of England’s 2005 Ashes-winning side in Marcus Trescothick and Geraint Jones on BBR2 along with Kent and England batsman Rob Key and past and present county players including Ali Brown, Stuart Meaker David Griffiths (Kent), Alex Morris (Yorkshire and Hampshire), Charlie Mulraine (Warwickshire), Graham Napier (Essex), Matt Coles (Kent), Jaik Mickleburgh (Essex), Jason Ratcliffe (Surrey), Ian Saxelby (Gloucestershire), David Wigley (Northamptonshire), Ian Thomas (Glamorgan), Tim O’Gorman (Derbyshire), Dan Cherry (Glamorgan), Michael Reed (Glamorgan), James Harris (Middlesex), Alan Fordham (Northamptonshire), and Glamorgan wicketkeeper Mark Wallace, the PCA chairman. The remaining BBR2 itinerary is: Monday October 12: Ageas Bowl to The BrightonandHoveJobs.com County Ground, Hove. Tuesday October 13: Hove to Kia Oval via Wivelfield Green, Edenbridge and Camberwell. The PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust is part of the Association’s commitment to helping current and former players and their dependants in times of hardship and upheaval to readjust to the world beyond the game. The Fund also supports players and their dependants who might be in need of a helping hand with medical advice, a much-needed operation or those who require specialist advice, care or assistance. The Tom Maynard Trust was set up in the summer of 2012 with the initial objectives of trying to provide low level financial support for young cricketers making their way in the game. This has now been expanded to include grants for aspiring young sports people looking for support with different aspects of their career development, education and awareness programmes, the Tom Maynard Academy at the Desert Springs complex in Southern Spain where up to 14 emerging county cricketers will benefit from specialist technical and conditioning work and a scholarship at his old school, Millfield School. To support and donate to Big Bike Ride 2 go to: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/bbr2pcabftmt/193332 For more information go to: https://www.thepca.co.uk/big-bike-ride-2.html {{ak_sharing}}
