27 000 kilometres in the saddle,
from Auvergne to New Zealand

Julien LEBLAY
28 yrs
Received a blood transfusion at 16 yrs old
Travel Writer – Guest Speaker

Marion DUMAS CHEILLETZ
23 yrs
Regular blood donor
Kino-Therapeutic Masseuse

Julien Leblay was born in 1981, and he has been a cycling traveller since 2004. In total he has covered no less than 29,000 kilometres on roads and tracks in 25 countries and on 3 continents (Europe, Oceania and South America).

On each trip, he carries with him a message about blood donations, an action that saved his life when he was 16, and that he promotes through the “Les voyageurs au grand cœur” (Big-hearted travellers) association.

Between trips, Julien Leblay and Marion Dumas Cheilletz, a member of the association and a regular blood donor, organise a series of conferences at a national level. The conferences provide an original way of creating awareness about blood donations by these accounts of exceptional trips.
They have already enabled recruitment of many donors in France and in other countries.

Julien and Marion came to Proludic on 28 October 2009 to highlight their commitment and tell us about their cycling trips.

On 4 July, these two cycling travellers will be off on a 20-month trip from the Auvergne to New Zealand. They will cover 27,000 km before arriving in Auckland in September 2011 for the opening of the next Rugby World cup. They will then cycle several thousand more km in the region before returning to France in March 2012.

When they come back, they will publish two books (a road book and a book of photos) and a film is to be made. They will then give a series of conferences throughout France as from 2013, with over 150 planned dates.

By associating ourselves with the new trip undertaken by Julien Leblay and Marion Dumas Cheilletz, Proludic is supporting an action that helps to save millions of lives each year, thanks to the 10,000 blood donations made every day.

To find out more, you can contact:

Julien Leblay & Marion Dumas Cheilletz
1, rue du Sabotier - Nadaillat - 63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle - France
Tel: +33 (0) 473 779710 - Email: vagc63@gmail.com