Throughout this year’s Olympic Games we are going to be showcasing some of our own Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust sporting heroes.
Our first champion is Ward 2 Staff Nurse Michael Ang who put the pedal to the metal and completed a charity bike ride earlier this month.
Michael, who is originally from the Philippines but now lives in Wolverhampton, completed the ride, which is organised by members of the Filipino community every year, during the recent heatwave.
The aim of the bike ride is to complete the same amount of miles as the NHS’s service. This year the fundraiser was set at 73 miles to coincide with the NHS’s 73rd birthday and fundraised for NHS charities.
Michael joined the other 23 riders at 6am to start off their journey and finished at 7pm.
He said: “Last year I was really disappointed in myself as I only managed to do 10 miles and this year my wife Maecy wanted to have a go so I thought why not, I will try and have another go too.”
“I was training on my days off so I could build up my endurance as last year I never really practiced that much.”
“On the day of the event we started off at New Cross Hospital, went through the canals, stopped at Tamworth Castle for some lunch, rode back to New Cross Hospital then had a little celebration event afterwards with a buffet provided by a local Filipino catering company.”
The charity bike ride took place on Sunday 18 July and temperatures soared up to 30°c.
The 45 year old said: “It was so hot which made it even more difficult. I ended up drinking five litres of water.”
His Ward 2 colleagues said: “We are so proud of Michael for completing a 73 mile charity bike ride and even more so the fact he did it in the scorching heat!”
Michael added: “My colleagues weren’t up to the challenge this year but I’m hoping to get them to join me next year, they will have plenty of time to train for the next event so no excuses!
In his spare time Michael likes to do carpentry and has been known to make wooden Christmas trees for his colleagues and charities.