The organisers
The event is organised by Wheels and Wheelchairs, a non-profit organization based in London.
For the project, Wheels and Wheelchairs is assisted by sister organisations Rouliroula pour Tous (Brussels) and Mobile en Ville (Paris).
Wheels and Wheelchairs (London)
Wheels and Wheelchairs is made up of a group of UK skaters and wheelchair users who go out together in parks and on the streets of London. The wheelchair users are pushed by the skaters, enabling them to enjoy the thrill of speed against the background of Britain’s beautiful capital.
Wheels and Wheelchairs also tackled the Berlin Inline Marathon last year, and a 6 hour endurance race in Paris.
Wheels and Wheelchairs was set up in 2012, inspired by Paris to London (2012) when five wheelchair users were pushed from Paris to London to attend the Paralympics. Since then, Wheels and Wheelchairs have taken part in similar events including Paris to Brussels (2014).
This summer, Wheels and Wheelchairs will be taking the lead by overseeing its most ambitious project yet : to complete the triangle by doing London-Brussels 2018 !
Wheels and Wheelchairs President, Janet Richards, said:
“London to Brussels is a wildly exciting adventure for our charity. It will be fantastic to show solidarity with our sister groups in France and Belgium by completing the triangle they started. As a wheelchair user myself I can testify that these unique trips are life-enhancing and enabling. We are most grateful to everyone who has donated their time, energy and cash to making this happen.”
For further information : http://www.wheelsandwheelchairs.co.uk/
Rouliroula pour Tous (Brussels)
Rouliroula promotes all aspects of skating – for recreation, in competitions and as a means of transport.
They are involved in setting up introductory sessions, coaching, races and they have participated in various worthy projects.
Since 2012, the «RouliRoula pour Tous » (RouliRoula for all) section participated in European events involving skaters and wheelchair users including Paris-London, Paris-Brussels and Paris-Strasbourg, in addition to several races where able bodied skaters and wheelchair users competed together.
During London-Brussels 2018, they will take full responsibilty for the entire route in Belgium.
For further information : http://www.rouliroula.be
Mobile en Ville (Paris)
This non-profit organisation focuses on equal-access of cities to everyone on wheels. That includes wheelchair users, skaters as well as babies in prams and pushchairs. Mobile en Ville has been working on these issues for the past 20 years.
The association brings together disabled and able-bodied persons (mainly rollerbladers) who have made accessibility their priority, to work together on these three themes :
Awareness, Advice, Living Together.
It is to reinforce their motto ‘Living Together’ that Mobile en Ville initiated the first of these long distance challenges : Paris-London 2012, Paris-Brussels 2014 and Paris-Strasbourg 2016.
Through these activities, they created strong and lasting friendships with skaters and wheelchair users from neighbouring countries, thus providing inspiration for the creation of their two sister organisations Wheels and Wheelchairs in the United Kingdom and RouliRoula pour Tous in Belgium.
On the London-Brussels 2018 challenge, the members of Mobile en Ville will contribute their experience from organising similar trips and their expertise in matters involving wheelchair accessibility. In addition to that, they have also taken on the responsibility of choosing and checking out the short segment of the route that passes through France – from Dunkirk to the Belgian border.
For more information : http://www.mobileenville.org