Bike4Life event raised record £100,000 for Midlands Air Ambulance
Thousands of bikers have helped raise a record of more than £100,000 for air ambulances at this year's Bike4Life Ride Out and Festival.
Organisers at Midlands Air Ambulance Charity say the most successful event in 10 years will fund 61 future lifesaving missions.
At the end of April 3,500 motorcyclists and hundreds of pillion riders took part in the annual organised 23-mile route from Meole Brace, in Shrewsbury, to one of the charity’s three operational airbases at RAF Cosford, in Shropshire.
It means that 31 air ambulance and an additional 30 critical care cars missions have been made possible.
The event, which was officially sponsored by the RAC, was supported by a number of famed VIPs including Mathew ‘Ollie’ Ollerton, former UK special forces soldier and widely known as a directing staff from Channel 4's popular SAS: Who Dares Wins, and Carl 'Foggy' Fogarty MBE, motorcycle racer and one of the most successful world superbike racers.
Also attending was Steve Parrish, British former professional motorcycle and truck racer, Douglas "Dougie" Lampkin MBE – former professional motorcycle trials and endurocross rider and Danny Buchan – two times British superstock champion.
Emma Gray, chief operating officer for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, said: “Since its humble beginnings in 2010 as a small ride out, now in its tenth year, Bike4Life has grown in popularity and support, and we have now reached a record number of riders, festival goers and lifesaving missions funded by the event.
“Road traffic collisions made up a third of the incidents our clinical crew attended in 2021, and sadly a great number of these involve motorcyclists in time critical need of rapid, advanced clinical intervention.
"We are truly grateful for the support shown by the biker community at Bike4Life and are truly amazed by their kindness and generosity, which has helped fund future missions for our rapid response, pre-hospital service”
To hear more updates on the charity’s Bike4Life Ride Out and Festival events visit bike4lifefest.com or search ‘Bike4LifeFest’ on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Midlands Air Ambulance Charity at midlandsairambulance.com and follow the organisation on social media.
Midlands Air Ambulance serves the largest air ambulance region in the UK. This includes the communities of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire; representing a population in excess of six million.
The charity responds to an average of 4,500 missions each year. It has three air ambulance helicopters based at RAF Cosford airbase, near Shifnal, Shropshire, Tatenhill airbase, near Burton-on-Trent Staffordshire, and Strensham Services on the M5 in Worcestershire.
Each year it costs in excess of £10 million just to keep the three charity helicopters and two critical care cars operational. Each air ambulance mission costs £2,950 on average and each critical care car mission costs £288, which is entirely funded by the generosity of the general public and local businesses.
