The London-Paris 2012 – Our Feedback: Unrivalled

What were you up to last weekend? We sent a team of eight therapists to work with 450 riders at our favourite partner event: The London-Paris (L2P). It’s our third year as HotChillee’s Sports Therapy partner and this event keeps getting better and better for us.

There was sweat, smiles, tears, rain, wind, sunshine (briefly), many overwhelming laughs and wonderful memories. The 2012 edition was named ‘ride with legends’ as we were joined by Stephen Roche celebrating the 25^th anniversary of his Triple Crown Win (The Tour de France, The Giro d’Italia and The World Championships) & Tour de France hero and World Champion winner Maurizio Fondriest. Magnus Backstedt, Karl Platt, Colin Lynch, Nigel Mansell, Joel Stransky, Will Carling, Geoff Thomas, John Salako & Sonia O’Sullivan were also part of the peloton. It was hugely motivating for all the riders to ride alongside these inspiring sports stars.

After an epic three stage ride and hundreds of thousands of Pounds raised for charity, all 450 riders from the seven speed groups, including hand-cyclists, rolled into Paris, escorted by 65 motorbike outriders, Skoda lead vehicles and the Police Nationale.

HotChillee manages to pull this off with a herculean effort on the logistic side: the entire 150 strong event crew is worth its weight in gold.

Our multi skilled team included Sports therapists, physiotherapists, osteopaths and sports masseurs. The event required our best time management skills so that we could attend to as many riders as possible. We had 15 hours sleep in 3 nights, treating from 6.30am until late in the evening (when riders should really have been asleep…) We did our very best to look after everyone and knead, soothe, ice, bandage, stretch, tape, advise and share the riders’ ups and downs.

Below is our team’s feedback, if you rode the event and have any comments, please email us, tweet or facebook us as we would love to hear from you:

Aurelie Almeida, Sports Therapist: “I’m very lucky to work with such skilled & hard working therapists who have a real passion for the sport and endless amounts of enthusiasm. Our job is hugely rewarding: we get to help riders when they are sore and in pain from the exhaustion and effort of riding, that’s why we became a little emotional when everyone got to Paris safely and in one piece. Thank you to all the riders for being patient and good humoured at all times.”

Leanne Claydon, Physiotherapist: “Wow, my first L2P and what an experience! It was fantastic to work with such motivated, good humoured riders and help them reach Paris feeling as good as possible! The whole event was fantastically organised, from HotChillee to Aurelie from TheTriTouch- I couldn’t fault a thing! I feel very lucky to be part of such a great team of therapists and look forward to many more events to come!”

Loic Lefevre, Sports Masseur: ”The hard work and the lack of sleep did not stop me at all from enjoying L2P 2012. I have gained a lot of respect not only for cyclists but for the sport itself.”

Tierney Maude, Sports Masseur: “This was my 2nd L2P and I can honestly say that I loved every minute of the journey. This event is fantastic, made even more spectacular by the crew, riders and organisers that are all so passionate about the sport making it an incredible and positive atmosphere to be involved in. The individuals that made up the TheTriTouch team really are the most enthusiastic, hardworking, experienced and knowledgeable team that I have ever had the pleasure to work with and I thank all of the team for making it an experience that I will never forget.”

Adey Saunderson, Physiotherapist: “Epic. One of the coolest “Roadtrips” ever. A truly inspiring event, with some amazing people, pushing themselves, finishing on nothing but heart. I just wish I could have helped more of you awesome people, I’ll have to learn to assess, treat and tape, simultaneously with my feet for next year!”

Dan Scott, Sports Masseur: “This is my 2nd L2P and it keeps getting better. I have met some inspiring people who go above and beyond what is asked of them to achieve their goals. I am so glad to be apart of this event, best job in the world!”

Elena Ward, Osteopath: “Being part of L2P is a real privilege, there is no other event quite like it so to be able to use my skills at this event is a real joy. Working with the riders makes us part of a huge and inspirational team of people who all have this common goal of making an unforgettable journey into Paris!”

Sam Wattie, Sports Masseur: “Another amazing L2P. What a professional and well run event. Testing weather this year but from the look on all the riders faces in Paris, well worth it. Thank you to all of TheTriTouch team for the hard work and for making the event lots fun to be a part of. The biggest highlight for me is always the gratitude from the riders for the help we give them getting to Paris and see Stephen Roche ride into Paris on the original bike he won the Tour de France with.”

You can view a selection of photos from the event on our facebook page. Videos for day 1, day 2 and day 3 and a full event video here. If that wasn’t enough The L2P will also be broadcasted on Eurosport in early July 2012 during the Tour de France. Don’t miss it, you can even spot us in the footage.

The next HotChillee event we will attend is The Alpine Challenge 2012.