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Fisher Outdoor is currently staging its annual trade-only Expo at the Edgbaston cricket stadium in Birmingham. The event started on Sunday and was a star-studded affair, with guests including former pro roadie Sean Kelly; trackie Craig Maclean; MTBers Will Longden and Steve Peat; and Cycling Weekly columnist Michael Hutchinson.
Martin Murray was also at the show. Murray is the brother of Stephen Murray, the US-based British BMXer injured last year in America. The presence of Martin Murray at a charity auction, held Sunday night at the Jury’s Inn in central Birmingham, helped to get Brit bike shops to dig deep for the variety of items in the after-dinner auction. These items included signed jerseys and ride sessions with Steve Peat.
A Stephen Murray video message to the Fisher auction is now here on YouTube and there’s more pix of the cycling celebs here.
Commentators Anthony McCrossan and Brian Smith were auctioneers for the evening and they kept the bids flowing.
A signed Sean Kelly jersey raised £2000. A Stay Strong iPod nano customised by Muc Off to benefit the Stephen Murray fund raised £400. A mystery prize raised £1200 (it turned out to be six month’s worth of credit from Fisher Outdoor).
In total, the auction raised £17,000, £2000 of which went to the family of Jason McIntyre via the roadie Braveheart fund. Scottish champion cyclist McIntyre was killed by a driver last week near his home in Fort William.
Last year Fisher donated $5000 to Murray’s fund.
150 people were at Fisher dinner, including all the Fisher staff, brand representatives from around the world and a selection of British bike shops.
Fisher CEO Richard Allmark said:
"We were staggered the auction raised £17,000. We were expecting it to be just a few thousand pounds. I think the reason so much was raised was because both recipients are very close to home for us in the bike trade. Jason McIntyre’s death was such a shock, it really touched a lot of people on the night.
"We also showed a video from Stephen Murray in which he expressed his thanks for Fisher staging the auction and asked everybody present to raise their glasses. It was an incredibly moving night."
