From Family Challenges to a 550km Solo Cycle - Our Mission to Save Vulnerable Young Lives

Dear friends, family, and colleagues,

To celebrate my milestone of 40th birthday, I am undertaking a personal challenge: a solo cycling pilgrimage around Shikoku Island in Japan this October.

Over the course of 10 days, I will cover 550 kilometres — roughly the straight-line distance from London to Edinburgh — and visit 40 historic temples to mark each year of my life. It will be my first ever long-distance cycling trip and I will do it on my own. Despite I am still recovering from a back injury, I am fully determined to complete the journey.

On top of it, to kickstart this fundraising, a month before I head to Japan, my daughter and I will be taking on a challenge closer to home. I will be competing in a sprint triathlon, while my daughter takes on her very first aquathlon. We are both very excited to push ourselves together as a family for a cause that means a lot to us.

While I love our life here in the UK, my roots are in Vietnam. I have always wanted to find a meaningful way to support vulnerable communities back home, particularly young girls who are going through a terrified experience of human trafficking and exploitation. Because of this, we are dedicating our challenges to supporting the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation.

Blue Dragon does incredible, steady work on the ground to rescue girls and young women from exploitation, provide them with safe emergency shelters, offer psychological counselling, and fund their long-term education. Their mission is simple: to make sure every child grows up safe, loved, and free.

Our Fundraising Target:

To mark this birthday milestone and celebrate our family efforts, we have set a target of £550 to raise £1 for every km I ride.

Every donation, no matter the size, has a tangible, life-changing impact on the ground:

1. £1 is enough to serve a healthy meal to feed a rescued child.
2. £20 provides a night of emergency shelter with food, clothing, and care.
3. £1,000 completely launches a rescue operation to bring a child or young adult home from slavery.

We are funding our event entry fees and my trip entirely ourselves, so 100% of your donations go directly to Blue Dragon's vital rescue and care programs.

If you would like to support us and this vital cause, any contribution would mean a lot.

To follow our training, races and my pilgrimage journey in Japan, please feel free to add my Strava https://strava.app.link/KIIcumuNc5b

Lots of love from us!

Linh and Elly