Thursday 1 October 2020 8:21am
Professor Gerry Closs, Professor David Lont and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Richard Blaikie are setting off on a fundraising cycling tour to raise money for Pūtea Tautoko. Photo: Sharron Bennett.
He is a hard man to catch on a bike and Richard Blaikie is one of three Otago professors using that talent to raise money for the University’s student support fund – Pūtea Tautoko.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) and fellow members of Dunedin social cycling group, the Phantoms, Professors Gerry Closs (Zoology) and David Lont (Accountancy and Finance), usually power along the peninsula from St Clair on Saturdays but will be cycling to Nelson for the group’s annual ride so want to do it for a cause close to their hearts.
They start their 1,381-kilometre trip in Dunedin on 5 November and will spend nine days on the road, which includes winding through five passes with a total climb of 17,344 metres*.
The 21 riders will be trying to cruise at 30 kilometres an hour as often as possible, while supported by two vans carrying their gear.
“It would be wonderful if people wished to reward our endeavours with some pūtea into the fund,” Professor Blaikie says.
“This is definitely a mamil group (middle-aged men in lycra) but we’re on that boundary of being oapils (sounds like opals).”
“It was just fantastic. It just makes you realise what an outstanding country we live in and how diverse and beautiful the southern part of New Zealand is. On a bike, it’s what I call slow motion touring. It’s the full sensory experience; sights, sounds, smell, taste and feel …”
Oapils?
“Old-aged pensioners in lycra. I made that up myself.”
Professor Blaikie may not know it – until now – but despite being a boundary-rider, younger staff have seen his wheels turning ahead of them on his daily commute and battled for an overtaking manoeuvre, unsuccessfully.
However, speed is not attracting him to the Nelson tour, “it’s really cementing the esprit de corps of the Phantoms,” and the scenery.
While work commitments have prevented Professor Blaikie from joining many annual tours, last year’s was in the South Island as well, so in nine days he covered a lot of ground in the Maniototo, Central Otago, Fiordland, Southland and the Catlins.
“It was just fantastic. It just makes you realise what an outstanding country we live in and how diverse and beautiful the southern part of New Zealand is. On a bike, it’s what I call slow motion touring. It’s the full sensory experience; sights, sounds, smell, taste and feel …”
When cycle touring, “working together is vital. You gain something like 30 per cent efficiency by cycling in a bunch”.
Maybe there is a metaphor there, for contributing to the support fund Pūtea Tautoko?
Professor Blaikie did his undergraduate studies at Cambridge University in England where “everyone gets around on a bike,” and continued commuting by bike in Christchurch, while entering events as well.
On arriving in Dunedin in 2011, he asked at a bike shop about cycling and was told to show up at St Clair on Saturday mornings at a set time, which suited being back for his kids’ sport.
And so, he became a Phantom; a member of a “nebulous bunch” that ebbs and flows weekly but is now celebrating its 30th year and has been touring annually for about 10.
For him, turning the social cyclers’ tour into a fundraiser for the student support fund Pūtea Tautoko is a logical way to help “students who are trying to hang in there – completing their programmes, remaining in study. They’re a tenacious group that needs support, so anything we can do to help our students is a good thing”.
For Professor Lont, fundraising is important because “students have been through a really tough year and this is a way to show we care. As a researcher of climate risk, I also think cycling is a great option to help reduce our carbon footprint. It is also great for your mental and physical health. Hopefully, we inspire a few to think about cycling to and from the campus as well!”
For Professor Closs, fundraising is a way to feel he is cycling for something worthwhile because he knows students have been under stress: “I’ve seen a lot of examples related to the Covid crisis”.
To recognise the effort involved with their Phantoms’ cycle tour, you can donate to the University of Otago Pūtea Tautoko fund here.
*The 2020 Phantom Tour starts in Dunedin and climbs Mt Cargill, the Pig Route (from coastal Otago into the Maniototo), the Haast Pass (between Central Otago and the West Coast), Arthur’s Pass (West Coast-Canterbury), Porters Pass (Castle Hill-Springfield, State Highway 73), Weka Pass (Waipara-Culverden, State Highway 7) and the Lewis Pass (Canterbury-Springs Junction, State Highway 7), before heading to Nelson.