On the 31st, the official website of the "2012 Ride to London for the Olympics" announced the list of 16 team members selected through the preliminary rounds. Wang Rui, a 26-year-old from Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, stood out among over 300 applicants nationwide, not only securing a spot on the team but also taking on the role of team leader for one of the routes.
The London cycling event is initiated by Guangzhou Qitianxia Education Technology Co., Ltd. Huang Jun, the company’s head of public welfare promotion, told reporters on the 31st that "Qitianxia" has prior experience organizing national cycling events for the Guangzhou Asian Games and the Shenzhen Universiade. For this London ride, the company has carefully planned the route, visa arrangements, safety measures, logistics, and commercial sponsorship. The plan is to select an additional 14 members through a training ride around the Pearl River in February. In late March, 30 participants will depart from Guangzhou to Beijing via two separate routes, then in late May, they will split into five groups starting from five different locations across Europe to cycle to London, finally regrouping in London one week before the Olympic opening ceremony.
A reporter contacted Wang Rui at his home in Xiangyang and learned that he graduated with a bachelor’s degree from South-Central University for Nationalities and earned a master’s degree in Historical Geography from Jinan University last year. He was later hired as a counselor at Guangzhou College, South China University of Technology.
Wang Rui said he has loved studying maps since childhood and had traveled to provinces such as Hubei, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Guangdong, and Hainan before graduation. After the Yushu earthquake in Qinghai, he was commissioned by a Beijing-based foundation to cycle from Xining to Yushu, delivering relief supplies to schoolchildren in the disaster area. During the 2011 winter break, he went on a cycling tour in eastern Hainan.
Wang Rui explained that this London cycling trip will require him to invest over half a year of time and several tens of thousands of yuan. For this reason, he has decided to resign or take a leave of absence without pay, using all his personal savings and borrowing some money from family and friends. He said jobs can be found again, but a cycling trip to London only comes once in a lifetime, and he wants to do what he dreams of while he’s still young.
Wang Rui said his team consists of three male and three female members, including both current university students and working young adults. All members are equipped with GPS devices, and an off-road vehicle will accompany them throughout the journey.
