Dukes Gathering 2019 - In aid of Wings for Life & Presented by Endura
Last year, the first ever year of The Dukes Weekender, one of the biggest highlights was undoubtedly our Film & Talk night. Dubbed ‘The Dukes Gathering’ and presented by our friends at Endura we held a very special, intimate night of conversation and films in our local pub, The Forth Inn.
So it is with a massive dose of pride that we can announce that we’re bringing The Dukes Gathering back for 2019!
*Note: We have just 100 tickets to the evening due to the venue size. These will go on sale in the next few weeks and be offered ONLY to those who have entered Dukes Weekender events before any remaining tickets going on wider sale…. So sign up to the events soon if you are planning to!
Once again presented by our friends at Endura, for 2019 we wanted to mix things up a bit. New speakers and another incredible cause that all ticket sales will go to Wings for Life…. So here we go.
Special Guests:
Martyn Ashton
The hugely talented and inspirational Martyn Aston is a personality known throughout everyone on the UK mountain bike scene. One of the founders of the UK trials scene in the 90’s, a world class rider (acknowledged to be ‘the hero’ of Danny Macaskill) and the rider in the massive YouTube hit ‘Road Bike Party’ Martyn is a global name in mountain biking.
However in 2013 Martyn sustained a life changing injury in a crash during a show leaving him paralysed from the waist down... Since that moment Martyn has battled back in one of the most inspirational stories in cycling, defying everything to get back on a specially created bike and ride again. If you don’t know Martyn then look him up on YouTube, as a good friend of some of the people behind Dukes we can honestly say we are so excited to be hosting Martyn for the evening and hearing his story.
After following Martyn’s phenomenal story we have also chosen to donate all ticket sales from the evening to the Wings for Life spinal research charity.
Lael Wilcox
Lael Wilcox is a name synonymous with ultra-endurance cycling. Having grown up in Anchorage, Alaska Lael discovered cycling at the age of 20 and proceeded to set off to ride on a tour around the world, covering over 10,000 miles.
Since then Lael has become one of the worlds finest long distance cyclists. Winning the Trans AM and holding the course record for the Tour Divide and she is currently in Kyrgyzstan preparing for the Silk Road Mountain Bike race where she’ll cover over 1700 kilometres and 27,000 meters of climbing.
In her spare time Lael is also a huge advocate for women’s cycling, co-leading the Anchorage GRIT (Girls riding into tomorrow) a cycling mentorship for young girls in Anchorage.
We are so excited to have Lael visiting to ride Dukes and share her experiences. We’d also like to pass on a huge thankyou to Rachael and the team from Hope Technology for helping make this possible.
Kerry MacPhee
Our local racer, 2018 Dukes Champion and British Elite Cross Country star we are HUGE fanboys/girls of Kerry MacPhee. Originally from Stornaway on the Outer Hebrides and a native Gaelic speaker Kerry discovered mountain biking relatively late at 23. It didn’t take long for her to realise it was her calling though, a British MTB Marathon Champion and a 13th place at Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games are just a couple of highlights of her career.
Those who know Kerry will tell you she is one of the most inspirational characters on the scene. A huge advocate for Women’s cycling and a role model for kids around the country Kerry’s going to share some of her insights into racing, her career, journey and passion for riding bikes!
Hosts
Lee Craigie and Rab Wardell
We are once again delighted to be welcoming back our 2018 hosts Lee Craigie and Rab Wardell. Two ex commonwealth athletes and stalwarts of the Scottish Cycling scene. Rab and Lee bring a huge passion and knowledge for all things cycling along with their own inspirational stories. Together Lee and Rab will host the evening, chatting to our guests and taking audience questions.
