Leisa, accompanied by her Boarder Collie/Bernese Mountain dog Indy, recently completed a four-and-a-half month length of New Zealand cycle trek with 13 a key number. Leisa and Indy (who either rode in his custom built trailer or jogged alongside) cycled 13 of the country’s trails, presented at 13 schools and fundraised for 13 regionally-based charities including Otago Medical Research Foundation.
The journey generated significant new coverage with Dunedin’s Channel 39 and Style TV in Christchurch covering the event. Radio New Zealand’s National Programme linked its coverage with a nice piece on mental health, a topic dear to Leisa’s heart, and newspaper the length and breadth of the country filed stories. A women’s lifestyle magazine in Australia and New Zealand-based mountain bike magazines all picked up on the story while social media outlets carried news each day.
Leisa says she has a renewed vigour to do more with the charities she adopted and there is talk of an overseas journey scheduled for 2017 to coincide with Leisa’s 50th birthday celebrations in September.
Her life after the journey can be seen on Facebook.
The Otago Medical Research Foundation felt honoured to have been chosen by Leisa as her Otago charity and look forward to following her adventures – here in New Zealand and offshore – in the years ahead.