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Bike rides, benefit dinners and the All Blacks - Hamish Marshall blog

19 November 2015

The end of the season is normally a chance to start winding down but what with organising the last few events of my benefit year I have been busier than ever.

I also took part in the Big Bike Ride 2 – a 400 mile charity cycle for the Tom Maynard Trust and PCA (Professional Cricketers Association) Benevolent Fund.

I did the first 150 miles from Truro to Instow and on to the County Ground in Taunton before having to stop due to sore knees.

But former Gloucestershire seamer Ian Saxelby – who is the chairman of my benefit committee – managed to complete the whole ride, finishing at the Kia Oval.

The ride has raised more than £130,000 so far and it was good fun to be involved with. A lot of big names took part including Darren Gough, Rob Key, Geraint Jones and Matt Maynard and it is all for a great cause.

I didn’t have much of a chance to train beforehand - the longest rides I had done were only 30mins to an hour  - so I found it pretty tough physically. There were a lot of hills and a lot of moaning and groaning from the cricketers but everyone helped each other out and we tried to stay together as a group.

The evenings provided a good chance to catch up with people over dinner and enjoy a well-earned beer.

As a proud New Zealander I was delighted to be at Twickenham to watch the All Blacks beat Australia to win the rugby World Cup. I went with James Fuller who had a spare ticket and it was a great day out.

I also went to the quarter final in Cardiff which was fantastic. The Millenium Stadium is one of the best places to watch sport in the world.

I have always loved my rugby – I think you have to growing up in New Zealand. I used to play scrum half and a bit on the wing at school before having to stop to concentrate on my cricket.

November 27 is the closing dinner of my benefit year. It takes place at the County Ground and we have former New Zealand captain and commentator Jeremy Coney as the guest speaker. If you would like to book tickets please email marshysbenefit2015@gmail.com

It has been a good year and I have had great support from so many people the way and I want to say a big thank you to everyone involved.

Hopefully we will have raised a good amount of money for my two charities – the PCA and the Pied Piper Appeal.

We are off to South Africa in December to see my wife’s family and enjoy a bit of beach, golf and safari before the hard work starts again in January.

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