Lachlan Morton will ride to the Ukrainian border in a fundraising effort
Lachlan Morton will ride to the Ukrainian border in a fundraising effort
Lachlan Morton (EF Education-EasyPost) will ride from Munich, Germany, to the Ukrainian border in an effort to raise money for the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund.
According to his team, the 30-year-old Australian was sitting at breakfast with Ukrainian teammate Mark Padun when he first learned of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“That made it hit closer to home, having a teammate who is directly impacted by it,” Morton said via an EF statement. “I found it hard to focus on trying to get ready for a race when something so significant was happening in the world. I’m a pretty optimistic person generally, but in the past couple of weeks, I’ve just felt that there has been very little to be excited about. It’s hard to get your head around. It’s surreal in a way. You watch the news, and the news is so heavy that you almost just disengage from it, because it is too much.”
Morton will leave Munich on Saturday for a ride that will cover 1,063 km, crossing through the Czech Republic and into Poland en route to the Korczowa-Krakovets border crossing. He is aiming to raise $50,000 for the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. The team said that EF Education First, Cannondale, and Rapha have contributed a combined total of $100,000 to the fund in support of Morton’s undertaking.
“It feels like it is some far-off, distant terrible thing that is going on, that is almost a world away. But the reality is that it is not,” Morton said. “So, I hope that covering that distance on a bike, and interacting with people on the way, will help to cement the reality of it a bit more.”
Padun addressed the invasion and Morton’s ride in the same statement, articulating the difficulties of the troubling situation that he and other Ukrainians are in.
“Honestly, I don’t know what people should do. I don’t know what I personally can do,” he says. “It is difficult to fully concentrate because you are aware that a war is still happening in your country. What the people of Ukraine need is for the war to be stopped. But what Lachlan is doing is good. The more people who are speaking about this, the better. It is great that he is raising money for Ukrainian refugees, too.”
More information on the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund can be found here. You can also track Morton’s progress and donate here.
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