Nathan Hines is enjoying his new role as business development director at Gallagher as he embarks alongside rugby legends on the mammoth ‘Road to Twickenham' cycle challenge raising money for charities.
Rugby legends have come together for Gallagher's seven-day 750-mile cross country charity cycle challenge from Saturday 11th June to the Premiership final, a week later on Saturday 18th June.
A core team of former professional rugby players will take part, including ex England & Scotland internationals Jack Clifford and Hines, who will cycle for seven days from Newcastle to Twickenham.
The ‘Road to Twickenham' cycle challenge aims to raise a minimum of £30,000 for Wooden Spoon and local Gallagher Premiership Rugby Foundations, with an incredible 650 cyclists taking part overall.
Hines is embracing the tough challenge and is looking forward to giving back to his community and is proud to support the children's charity, Wooden Spoon, which funds approximately 70 life-changing projects across the UK & Ireland that support vulnerable children every year.
He told The Rugby Paper: “It's going to be seven days of near torture. As rugby players we get challenged every week and the guys who are competing are competitive and see it as something they can work towards.
“It's going to be a great way to give back and even though cycling 750 miles in a week doesn't sound like fun, it'll be a good feeling when we finish. There are some parts I'm not looking forward to, but we'll just see how bad it gets.”
Hines has been wanting to find a way to connect Gallagher and Premiership Rugby and sees the cycle challenge as a way to bring the ‘rugby family' together.
He said: “I did a cancer charity ride with our Bristol office after one of the colleagues there died of cancer. We did a cycle in September last year and what I really like about rugby in general and why it's so special in comparison to other sports, is that it's just one big family.
“I thought what's a good way to connect Gallagher and our title partnership with Premiership Rugby and all its clubs. We can tie it all together by helping as many people as possible.”
Hines reveals that there'll be eight people that will be cycling the full route, including Paralympian Louie Rolf, and then numerous other former players will be cycling certain legs.
He said: “There's eight that will be cycling the whole way; myself, Jack Clifford, Will Johnson, Rob Vickers, Charlie Sharples, Jonny Arr, Will Hurrell and Paralympian track cyclist Louie Rolf. This distance is a bit alien to him as well but he's transferring to triathlon, so this is a good training effort for him. We needed him because he knows about cycling. They'll be others who will come in and do it when we get a bit closer. Paul Volley's going to do five days, Tom May will do two, Lee Mears, Tom Stephenson and Roger Uttley are all doing legs. They're keen to help because they realise, we're in a position to help others.”
The core squad will be joined in part by ex-England international and Harlequins legend Ugo Monye, who is a Gallagher ambassador. Prevented from taking on the full challenge due to pre-existing injuries, Monye will fire the starting pistol in Newcastle before cheering the pack over the finish line and into Twickenham Stadium.
Hines expresses that if you want to be involved in the cycle you can still participate in the day legs from wherever is closest to you.
He added: “If you'd like to cycle there's still opportunities on our day legs, there's a fee to register and you'll get a cycle jersey. You'll be riding with me, and we ask to raise some money for your Premiership club.
“If you're from Newcastle, you can come and ride in the Newcastle leg and all the money will go to the Newcastle foundation. For London, we go from Newbury to Twickenham, so they're all together and London Irish, Harlequins and Saracens will all ride together. Look up “Road to Twickenham 2022” for more information.”
The former Scotland international won 77 caps and had spells at Edinburgh, Perpignan, Leinster, Clermont and Sale Sharks, before opting to hang up his boots in 2015 and move into coaching.
Hines was assistant coach at Scotland for two years and then worked with Vern Kotter at Montpellier for three years before returning to the UK to live in Cheshire, where he started his role as business development director for insurance company Gallagher.
He added: “With our title partnership at Gallagher we have certain rights and what I do is help give Gallagher access to games and players to grow the business. It helps I know about the rugby landscape and can help them. I try to create opportunities where we get engagement from our clients. We've done wine tasting, access to captains runs, sports quizzes for employee engagement, all with an aim to grow the business. It's good for me still being involved in rugby as I continue to love the sport.”
Gallagher's Road to Twickenham cycle challenge gets underway on Saturday 11th June at Newcastle Falcons' Kingston Park. For more information on how to support, please visit www.ajg.com/uk/news-and-insights/2022/may/support-the-road-to-twickenham-cycle/
Written by Ben Jaycock
