#widows interview

Chris Parsons is well known to the Loomba Foundation. He is in fact one of our ambassadors and I can’t praise him enough for all the support he has provided over the years as he has been a one-man fundraising machine for the Loomba Foundation. His fundraising has been spectacular to say the least as he takes on challenges that are very difficult.

I’m delighted to announce that Chris is embarking on another fundraising adventure with the aim of raising $450,000 to help widows in India. I had the chance to catch up with Chris as I wanted to ask some questions as well as establishing if he is human or if he is a machine, as it is difficult to tell! Before we delve into some questions, here is some background information on Chris including his past fundraising feats:

Chris is a partner at international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills and is chairman of the India practice. His past fundraising consists of the following:

- In 2011 he cycled from London to Gibraltar raising $200,000

- In 2015 he walked 30 marathons over 30 consecutive days in India raising $300,000

In February 2020 Chris will be cycling the length of India from Kanyakumari in the south to Srinagar, Kashmir in the north over 45 consecutive days starting on 3rd February 2020. He will cycle 4,500km in total and his target is to raise $450,000.

Here Chris talks in more detail about his upcoming challenge:

1) It's great to have you back fundraising for us again, thank you. What made you decide to take on another challenging fundraising venture? Why India and why cycling?

I could see 2020 coming up and that had a nice ring to it and I thought my last one was in 2015, that would have been five years ago, and I thought: Why not? India, because it’s my second home and I wanted to support widows and their children again, and, why cycling? I walked/ran last time, so I’ve done cycling before for the Loomba Foundation, when I did the London to Gibraltar cycle ride, and I thought, why not?

2) What drives you to take on such extreme challenges to fundraise? It's not easy by any means.

I’m just fortunate to be able to do them. I’m fit, I like exercise, so that’s one reason. Another reason is that I’ve gone very public with my alcoholism, so my addictive personality means that I tend to do things to excess, just as I did with drink, so why do one cycle if you can do 45 cycles and cover 4.5 thousand kilometres? And then the other area is I guess related to the relationship I had with my dad. He gave me very little affirmation and therefore, there’s part of me that gets some affirmation through doing these extreme things and being recognised for doing them. Perhaps not very attractive, but it’s the truth.

3) Thank you being so candid regarding your alcohol addiction. How are you coping with your addiction?

I joined Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) about 5 years ago and I have found that enormously helpful both in terms of having a sponsor, that is appointed through AA, and through following a 12 step programme. The reality is that you cope through abstinence, you cope a day at a time and you follow the 12 step programme as closely and as carefully as possible.

4) What is your training regime like at the moment? How regularly are you cycling and what distances are you covering?