Leon Wilson: Day 4 of FireFlies Antipodes
The FireFlies Antipodes
charity ride from Christchurch to Queenstown is under way. From 17 to
23 February, the ride covers approximately 1,000km over six gruelling
days. 12 riders from the marketing, creative and production industries
are dedicating themselves to raising much-needed funds and awareness
towards the Snowdome Foundation's mission, 'making hope real for
Australians fighting blood cancers'. Here Leon Wilson, partner / ECD Robyn&Leon talks about Day #4...
100km's
into Day 4 and it's been raining torrentially for about 98 of them. The
ITB in my right knee has gone from a dull ache to a sharp pain each
time I extend my leg. Not great... there's still another 40km's to go,
including a big climb. The caravans that threaten to knock us off while
furiously overtaking are looking pretty dry and cosy right now.
Sometimes we talk as we ride, sometimes we're busy in our own heads. The
journey isn't only on the road. Eventually we make it to Haast, an
isolated little town on the West Coast. The Alps run close to the coast
here giving the town an oppressive feel, like the landscape doesn't want
it to exist and is slowly pushing it into the
ocean.There's warmth in the hotel bar though, not just from the fireplace we're drying our soaked shoes in front of, but from the people as well. I get chatting to a local in front of me at the bar, and when he gets his change he hands the $30 to me to put toward the cause.
This ride is about a lot of things, but fundamentally it's about empathy. It's about friends, family and strangers caring about one another. It's about knowing that if your knee hurts, someone's back probably hurts more. It's about not taking people for
granted, whether it's those that you
know, those that you love, or those that you've only just met.As a group of riders, some familiar and some foreign to one another, we're a little like a microcosm of society in this respect. And whether it's a Fireflies ride or just everyday life the most important thing along the way is to be good to each other, even to the people towing caravans who want to run us off the road.
Director - TRACKBill Doig, Freelance Producer
Malachi Moxon - Northside Locals
Carmen Barry - Northside Locals
Sam Hall, Executive Producer - Blockhead
Graeme Pereira, Editor - ARC EDIT
Wilf Sweetland, Global CEO - Sweetshop
David Llewellyn, Founder & Director - Bellweather Agency
Simon Bloomfield, Creative Director - Apparent
Leon Wilson Partner, / ECD - Robyn & Leon
James Bush, Creative Technology Lead - Fjord
