750 Miles Of Cycling Tour Completed

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31462, 31 August 1967, Page 9

750 Miles Of Cycling Tour Completed

For a Christchurch housewife an idea which started as a joke among her friends has become a “very worth-while” venture.

Mrs J. Aitchison, secretary of the Christchurch and North Canterbury area of the British Drama League, arrived in Christchurch on Tuesday afternoon from Ashburton after completing 750 miles of her 1250-mile cycling tour of centres in both islands.

The tour, which will end on September 8 with the start of the national finals at Hawera, is being made to gain publicity for the divisional and national finals of the British Drama League's one-act-play festival Mrs Aitchison is also raising funds for the festival, and has already collected about $250. She said, however, that the final total would not be known until after the tour, as a number of boxes had still to be collected in the North Island.

At a reception on Tuesday Mrs Aitchison and her bicycle were the centre of attention for about 40 friends, relatives and well-wishers. Mrs Aitchison said that she was still feeling fit and was managing to cover about 45 miles a day at the rate of about 10 miles an hour. The weather for her tour had been fine except for

three days, and she had had only three punctures—one at Waikanae and two between Geraldine and Ashburton. “Publicity throughout the tour has been wonderful,” said Mrs Aitchison. Mrs Aitchison left yesterday morning for Waipara, on the way to Hawera. She will stop at Cheviot, Kaikoura, Seddon, Picton, Paekakariki, Levin, Palmerston North and Wanganui. She will be met by the Mayor of Hawera (Mr F. W. Finer) at 3.30 p.m. on September 8.