To mark the occasion of his up and coming 30th birthday, Neil Gothard wanted to take part in a momentous challenge, after much deliberation and persuasion, he, along with Chris Cox and Andrew Barber, known as Ted, have all signed up to take part in the Death Valley Cycle challenge, which will take place in November.
This is a significant task, given that Neil and Chris are not regular bike riders..., and although a fairly keen cyclist, Ted due to work commitments, has not had the time to do any training recently, it’s going to be tough! While this is a challenge which will bring about a huge sense of achievement for them, Neil, Chris and Ted have also decided that they want to make a difference, and therefore, are going to take on the challenge in aid of the Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity.
The challenge is the ultimate cycle for charity, Death Valley is a 3.4 million acre park, located in Nevada, USA in the Southern Californian desert. The boys will be conquering 420km by bicycle, with steep hill climbs and vast drops, on average completing 60 miles a day for four days plus a 30 mile day to start them off. Happily for them they will end up in Las Vegas for a night, where they plan to celebrate Neil’s 30th in style.
You will have all heard of the Great Ormond Street Childrens Charity (GOSH), GOSH works tirelessly to care for children with life affecting illnesses, sometimes terminal, they not only treat the child, they also care for the family, through what can only be one of the most traumatic times. Alongside this, they also carry out continual medical research and have had some amazing break throughs, including the development of the first heart and lung bypass machine, the nation’s first leukaemia research unit and endless research into understanding the body’s immune system, to try and understand how to prevent life threatening illnesses. This is an amazing cause, which will one day hopefully win some of the battles against some of the major diseases and infections that are around today.