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Portman Road to Düsseldorf: Town fans gear up for 300-mile bike ride
The special relationship between two football clubs has inspired a pair of Ipswich Town fans to undertake a nearly 300 mile bike odyssey to raise funds for the less fortunate.Elijah Aldridge and James Rose will leave Portman Road immediately after the Arsenal fixture on April 20 to pedal their way to the Merkur Spiel-Arena, Düsseldorf.The pair will travel from Harwich to Holland before trekking across the Netherlands and following the Rhine River in the hopes of catching Fortuna Düsseldorf take on 1. FC Nürnberg at home just six days later.
James Rose and Elijah Aldridge will cycle to Dusseldorf on April 20. Picture: ITFC FSFIn addition to raising money for Ipswich food bank FIND, the trip will also see donations to Tafel Düsseldorf, a German food bank.The Ipswich Town Foundation and Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Food Banks (ITFC FSF) will see smaller shares of the pot.James, a volunteer at ITFC FSF, said Ipswich Town and Fortuna Düsseldorf have shared a special relationship since 2006, with fans from both clubs visiting each other every season. "We all know that hunger doesn’t wear club colours, just as we know that hunger isn’t exclusive to the UK,” he said.
James Rose in position on the foodbank stall on the Portman Road. Picture: ITFC FSF“Over a third of children in Ipswich are living in poverty, with more than a million people below the poverty line across the East of England.“In Düsseldorf, one in five children are affected by food poverty. North Rhine-Westphalia, of which Düsseldorf is the capital, has over 3 million people considered to be in poverty.” Ipswich Town is one of 40 teams in England involved with the Fans Supporting Foodbanks scheme.It hopes to bring together football fans, regardless of club colours, to support the less fortunate.Over the past three seasons, the Blue Army has raised more than £15,000 and donated nearly 175 crates of food to FIND.
Volunteers with donating Liverpool fans ahead of the first PL fixture of the season. Picture: ITFC FSFA GoFundMe has been launched for James and Elijah’s journey, which has raised just shy of £3,200 in four days. You can donate to the cause here.Fans wishing to see James and Elijah off can do so opposite Planet Blue on April 20.