Oxford supporter walks over 100 miles to help raise over £10,000 for speedway charity
LAURA POLLARD – a key backroom member at Oxford Speedway – has helped raise over £10,000 for the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund (SRBF), a charity that raises funds for both long-term and short-term injured speedway riders.
She was part of a trio who walked 107 miles over six days under the banner of Walk Speedway, departing Berwick Speedway’s Shielfield Park stadium on April 27 and arriving at the ECCO Arena in Middlesbrough – the home of the Redcar Bears – on May 2.
Walking with Laura were former speedway rider Greg Blair and Talk Speedway podcast co-presenter Scott Frame. The latter set up a JustGiving page with an initial £1000 target which was quickly reached. The walk caught the imagination and the £10,000 barrier has been smashed over the last few days.
Pollard has recently joined the British Speedway Network (BSN) as part of their presentation team, making her first appearance at Plymouth on Saturday evening, having also been the pitlane reporter for Oxford Speedway’s own streaming service. She can be heard on BBC Radio Oxford on Monday evenings, when she joins Marcos Young, Leon Foster-Hill and either Jerome Sale or Ross Heaton for their Heat 16 programme.
Laura Pollard said: “It’s been incredible that it’s gone over £10,000 – we never expected to raise that much for the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund. It hasn’t sunk in yet and I can’t thank everyone enough for their generosity.
“We’ve got a couple of little things to auction off, so we’ll probably keep the JustGiving page open for the month of May, so there’s still a chance for people to donate.
“We left Berwick on the Sunday morning at around 10.30am, the day after they had a home meeting. We got to Redcar, just before the start of their meeting at around 7.15pm and we got a fabulous reception as we entered the stadium.
“The longest day was 22 miles. That was on the Tuesday. The last day was the shortest at 14 miles. But, in all honesty, we were so tired by then, that the shortest felt as long as the longest one!
“The day we did 22 miles was also the day when six miles of it were alongside the A1. It was the toughest part of the whole week, because it was just so noisy with all the cars and lorries hurtling past and we were walking in long, thick grass.
“The weather app said it was 23 degrees, but it definitely felt hotter than that, walking out in the sun with our bags on our backs. It was an end of April heatwave, but it was better than being wet. We only had a tiny amount of rain on the first day.
“Most days we were walking around eight hours. We were aiming to try to walk at around three miles an hour. At times, we had to go slower, but we supported each other through the tougher times.”
The intrepid trio received a number of video messages during the walk from the likes of Ricky Ashworth, Garry Stead, Scott Nicholls and Jason Doyle – all riders who have needed assistance from the SRBF. The timing of the message from Ashworth – a rider whose speedway career ended with life-changing injuries and spent over 90 days in a coma – couldn’t have been any better.
Pollard explained: “Just as we finished that tough six-mile stint alongside the A1, the video came through from Ricky Ashworth. We were all a bit emotional when it came through, but it gave us the boost to pick up our energy levels back up again.
“Receiving all the various messages meant a lot to us – we didn’t know we were going to get those. They were a reminder why we were doing the walk to raise money for the Ben Fund in the first place. We’ve now got those videos forever – it’s amongst the memories we’ll have.”
A good back-up team was also essential to the trio.
“The support was unreal. There were around 20 of us when we set off at Berwick – a real mixture of riders and fans. Leon Flint was a trooper and joined us for the 22-mile-day, while Danny King walked with us on the Thursday and gave us such an injection of energy. Chris Morton did the full last day with us.
“Fiona Robertson, the mum of former rider Jamie Robertson, drove us each day back and forth to our starting and finishing points to the hotels. Sarah Bulman from Berwick did the same and also did some washing for us. Other people helped, but without those two, we would have been stuck.”
A close friendship has clearly been struck up between the three walkers.
“I got to know both Greg and Scott very well during the walk – there’s definitely no secrets between us now. We didn’t argue once and we also knew when one of us needed a bit of quiet time. We were a proper team.
“I work in the fitness industry and I know a little bit about injuries. I needed to help bandage up Greg a few times – he suffered quite a bit. I was able to keep my energy levels up and I think that helped the guys, and in turn, they were there for me when I needed it.
“I don’t think we’d volunteer to walk that far again. But it’s an amazing memory to have and a bond that the three of us will always have”, Laura Pollard concluded.
To donate to Walk Speedway, please visit their JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/walkspeedway
PHOTO: Laura Pollard interviewing Luke Killeen (pic: Ian Wagstaff)
