Rally to the finish

Bulla and Bartl pose with their spouses and Past District Governor Rainer Späth (far right), who led the way on his motorcycle, at the finish line.

When two Rotarians in southeastern Germany asked themselves what they could do to celebrate the creation of two new Rotary districts and promote polio eradication, their thinking was cyclical.

Uwe Bartl and Michael Bulla – assistant governors of District 1840 (part of Austria and Germany) and governors-elect of the districts it will split into on 1 July (1841 and 1842, respectively) – spent four months training for the five-day bicycle journey along the border that will separate the new districts. In May, the pair traced the 280-mile path through the hills of Bavaria, stretching south from Pfaffenhofen; winding through Munich, the Bavarian state capital; and ending in Rosenheim.

In the tradition of the European cycling holiday, they rode through the countryside and stopped in a dozen towns and villages to soak up local culture. The governors-elect met up with Rotarians from 21 clubs, who offered their support through fundraising booths in public plazas (donations to the End Polio Now campaign totaled close to €10,000) and gifts of brez’n, Bavarian pretzels.