Twelve year old Poppy Mulford, who is a student at The Regent’s School Pattaya, will soon embark on a major physical challenge which she has called Temple 2 Temple, as she sets out to cycle the 418km from the temples at Ayutthaya in Thailand to the temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Poppy will endure the grueling journey in the hope that she can raise money for her young Thai friend at the Pattaya School for the Deaf, who needs an operation to help correct her hearing.
On 19 October Poppy, her father Nathaniel Mulford and a few other brave teachers from her school, will set off from the ancient capital of Thailand destined for a testing endurance ride of 75km a day for six days. Long distance cycling is a completely new skill for Poppy, and she has been training over the last six weeks to build up speed and endurance and overcome her fear of being attacked by dogs.
Poppy’s determination to complete the ride stems from the friendship she formed with an 8-year-old girl called Yok, who Poppy met when she visited the Deaf School last year with other students from The Regent’s.
Poppy will be recording her progress over the six days on her blog: http://poppymulford.blogspot.com/. Pattaya residents who would like to sponsor the campaign can find more information on the blog now.
Poppy and her father Nathaniel Mulford, who, with a few other brave teachers from her school, plan to make the trip from the temples at Ayutthaya in Thailand to the temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Poppy commented, “I am doing this cycle ride to raise money for an eight year old Thai girl who has hearing disabilities. We became friends during my school’s activity week in January 2013 – Round Square Week. I am hoping to be able to raise money for her to have an operation to help correct her hearing because her parents would never be able to afford to do this for their daughter.”
It’s going to be a long ride, so practice is a must to build up endurance and prepare for any eventuality.
Assistant Principal at The Regent’s, Paul Crouch commented, “This is precisely the sort of action which I would expect from Poppy, who was the winner of the school’s Brittany Tang Award for Outstanding Global Citizenship last year. We encourage our students to believe that what they do and what they say can really make a difference, and she’s putting that into practice. Everyone at school wishes her the best of luck in her challenge.”
