Blazing the charity trail

Five cyclists who blazed a trail across the country when they cycled from Lands End to John O’Groats have raised more than £12,500 for two local charities.

Delighted to have achieved the challenge of cycling more than 1,000 miles for which they had prepared for a year, ‘Blazing Saddles’ raised £12,520 which will be split between Cancer Research UK and Sue Ryder Care’s Thorpe Hall Hospice.

The team, made up of five employees from Perkins’ Peterborough site – Dan Theobald, Ian Bates, David Belcher, Richard Weeks and Stuart Moore, completed the challenge in 13 days.

Perkins’ product specialist Kate Theobald and her sister Anna Parker supported the event by driving the support vehicles, from which they served welcome meals and drinks throughout the day.

“It was an incredible event,” said Dan, while Stuart added: “It was quite tough for the first few days as we were traveling across the county and when looking on the map it didn’t look as if much head road had been made, but thankfully it was soon a different story.”

The team spent around eight hours a day on their bikes, which gave them the chance to take in the scenery, with their highlights including the route around Cheddar Gorge and cycling through the centre of Bristol and Edinburgh.

After a lot of hard work the team reached their ultimate goal of John O’Groats.

“It was a big sense of achievement to get there. The challenge was our whole life for two weeks,” stated Dan.

Team members said they were all really pleased to have joined the small number of people who have completed the Lands End to John O’Groats challenge.

And their efforts were rewarded as Blazing Saddles smashed the original £10,000 fundraising target, with a total of £12,520.

The money has been split between Perkins’ charity of the year Sue Ryder Care Thorpe Hall Hospice and the local branch of Cancer Research UK.

Julie Laithwaite, fundraiser at Sue Ryder Care said: “All of the Blazing Saddles cyclists and support team were so keen and enthusiastic; it was a pleasure to get to know them all. The event took a lot of organising and planning and they thought of everything!

“I kept in touch with them by text messages and I was really pleased when they reached their goal. I was delighted they had chosen to support Sue Ryder Care – Thorpe Hall Hospice; the funds they raised will be a welcome boost to the charity as each year we need to raise over £1million locally and their support will help to make a positive difference to everyone we care for here.”

Perkins has pledged to match all funds raised for its charity of the year, so Blazing Saddles’ efforts will mean a fantastic £12,520 will be donated to Thorpe Hall Hospice.

Chloe Higgins, area volunteer manager for Cancer Research UK, was equally delighted to receive a cheque for £6,260 on behalf of the charity.

She said: "We are extremely grateful to the Blazing Saddles team for taking on such a huge challenge to raise funds for Cancer Research UK. Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute opened in 2007 and with running costs of over £20 million per year we are so thankful to all those involved for deciding to fundraise for our vital research.
 
"Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute is based on the Addenbrookes Hospital site in Cambridge. It is ideally located for bringing together cancer doctors and scientists to encourage the flow of ideas. The new institute focuses on translational research - turning laboratory examples into tangible benefits for patients as quickly as possible.
 
"Without the support of teams like the Blazing Saddles Cancer Research UK just couldn't continue this life-saving work, so thank you."
 

Picture (top). The Blazing Saddles team present both Chloe Higgins, area volunteer manager for Cancer Research UK (left) and Natalie Riddler, fundraiser for Sue Ryder Care (right), with cheques for £6,260.
Picture (bottom) After cycling more than 1,000 miles the team arrives in John O’Groats.