About 180 wheels, or 90 cyclists of all ages, took part in the Fourth Annual Bike Ride on October 7, a charity event started in 2003 by One Life Bulgaria (onelifebulgaria.org). The bike tour began at 11am at the Rila mountain winter resort of Borovets and the participants were safely back in Sofia at 5pm.

Surprisingly, neither the not-so-sunny autumn weather and light showers, nor the 80km distance between the starting and the end point put off any of the participants, even though some of them were wearing shorts and some were between the ages of six and nine years old. Many expats and their children took part, as well as representatives of the companies Velomania and Drag and members of the Bikevolution association. The event was sponsored by IBM, Porsche Bulgaria and Hilton Hotel Sofia, which held a reception for the participants at the end of an energetic Sunday. Each of the cyclists received a certificate for taking part in the Charity Bike Tour 2007.

Co-ordinator of the event and One Life Bulgaria secretary Rositsa Vassileva told The Sofia Echo the event this year raised about 20 000 leva, which will be donated to the children’s haematology clinic at St. Marina hospital in Varna. The money will be used for renovation and to buy new furniture and consumables because the children undergoing chemotherapy are easily infected after the treatment period due to the poor conditions in the old hospital.

Every year the organisation raises money for children with health problems. The first bike ride was in 2003 between Sofia and Plovdiv and the donation was given to the Plovdiv hospital for children with cancer. The money raised by the next bike ride was used for renovation of the children infections hospital in Sofia.

One Life Bulgaria also organises the Charity Golf Tournament, which this year will take place on November 4 at St. Sofia golf course, the third year the event has been held.

A charity rugby tournament was organised for first time in April 2007. Veterans from the UK and a team from Moscow played against the team of the Bulgarian Sport Academy and Pernik’s and Murphy’s Misfits teams.

To join the charity events and learn more, visit www.onelifebulgaria.org