KEY POINTS:
It's the feeling of freedom and being part of the action that made Sally Wenley agree to ride the first leg of the Conquest Challenge. And the fact that she wants to make as much money as possible for spinal research that may help her and other paraplegics walk again.
Next Wednesday, Wenley, award-winning journalist and mother of 5-month-old Georgia, will slip into leathers and take off for Tauranga.
Big and flashy, the Martin Conquest is a piece of engineering genius that allows wheelchair users to ride the road. Chairs wheel in from the back and the bike is controlled through ordinary handlebars plus a series of hand-operated buttons that work the gears. And the feeling, when she sat there for the first time, took Wenley back to when she was a teenager on the farm bike at home, with hay in the back, and a spine that worked: "I still went to use my toes to change gear."
The former Hawkes Bay girl will be cheered on by the local bikie community, plus Dion Nash, Ewen Gilmour and former international equestrians and three-day eventers Blyth Tait and Catriona Williams.
Williams started her fundraising charity, CatWalk, after a horse-riding accident put her in a wheelchair in 2002. All money raised goes towards research into spinal cord regeneration.
The 15-day Conquest Tour's first stop is the Otara Spinal Unit and the last is the Burwood Spinal Unit in Christchurch. Each leg will be ridden by someone strong, keen - and confined to a wheelchair. Then, on November 13, after a day of celebration and display at the Riccarton Races, the Conquest bike, worth around $50,000, will be auctioned to the highest bidder.
Within the paraplegic community interest in the bike is already high. Phone bids will be accepted and two high-profile bidders are expected to pay plenty - not just for the bike for their paralysed loved one, but also to donate as much as possible to CatWalk's ground-breaking research programme.
See Sally take off:
* When: 7.30-8.30am Wednesday October 29
* Where: Gull Service Station, Te Rakau Drive, Botany Downs
* Go to www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/SallyWenley
