6 business owners in Wales who have really have got the bug for cycling throughout lockdown have set off on a mammoth fundraising ride from the most northern point in Scotland to the UK’s most southerly point at the tip of Cornwall.
With a target of raising £10,000 for the charity Prostate Cymru, the lads will begin their journey at John O’Groats in the Scottish highlands, and spend the next 9 days cycling near 100 miles per day, to Lands’ End in Cornwall. The ride is aptly called ‘Pedal4Prostate’ and the total ride will cover more than 1,000 miles over nine days.
Brian Stokes, Director of IT & Telecoms company ITCS, didn’t even own a bike this time last year:
“I’ve always been into fitness but I definitely was no cyclist!” He says, “But I really am a big believer in giving back wherever I can, and I also love a challenge. A few years ago, I climbed Kilimanjaro to raise money for Welsh charity Latch, and wanted to challenge myself again last year – we had planned on climbing another mountain. But with travel restrictions and lockdown, it wasn’t possible, so that’s where the idea for Pedal4Prostate was born”.
The team consists of a team of 6 welsh business owners and employees of Welsh businesses, including Jonathan Morgan, 31, from Neath, owner of the multi-branched Peter Morgan Estate Agents; Gareth John, 50, from Llanelli, who is the director at Agent Pro Estate Agent Software; Brian Stokes, 45, from Maesteg, owner of IT Support and Business Telecoms company ITCS, Rhodri Jervis, 24, from Neath, who is a BT Openreach engineer; 32-year-old solicitor Ben Garvey from Port Talbot, who is a partner at David W Harris Solicitors in Swansea; and Richard Wanklyn, 38, from Baglan, who is finance manager for Neath Port Talbot Council. They will have team support from friend Chris Davies.
Their cycle trip is planned as follows:
- Day 1 – John O’Groats to Inverness – 122 miles
- Day 2 – Inverness to Crianlarich – 111 miles
- Day 3 – Crianlarich to Abington – 98 miles
- Day 4 – Abington to Lake Windemere – 107 miles
- Day 5 – Lake Windermere to Chester – 104 miles
- Day 6 – Chester to Hereford – 93 miles
- Day 7 – Hereford to Taunton – 105 miles
- Day 8 – Taunton to Bodmin – 95 miles
- Day 9 – Bodmin to Land’s End – 60 miles
Prostate Cymru is mainly volunteer-led and gets no government funding, relying on the generosity of fundraisers. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in Wales and the second most common cause of cancer death in UK men after lung cancer. As a man in Wales, the risk of having prostate cancer is one in eight.
Pedal4Prostate aims to help men in Wales by improving equipment for prostate treatments to ensure they have access to the best possible treatments available on the NHS.
If you’d like to get involved in this very worthy cause, visit the site here: http://pedal4prostate.co.uk/
You can also follow @pedal4prostate_ on Instagram to keep up to date with the group’s updates throughout their journey.
