My story

Middle age man (apparently!) realises that he wishes to set himself an affirming, 'I've still got it!' challenge and in doing so raise some significant money for a couple of great charities.

The Fred Whitton Challenge is a gruelling 112 mile sportive challenge ride for charity around the Lake District, run in memory of Fred Whitton.  It starts at Coniston, and the route includes the climbs of Kirkstone, Honister, Newlands, Whinlatter, Hardknott and Wrynose passes (that's all of them then!) When added up, this equates to approximately 3800m of climbing, or well over 10000ft.  Many of you will know I luckily got to the top of Mont Blanc a few years back...but I didn't do it with a bike!  If you would like to read a good article by someone who did it a few years ago, try here.

My aim, apart from to finish it, is to try to do it in under 500 minutes and my goal is to try to raise £1 for every minute I am on the bike. Apart from any middle aged man 'I've got to go for a wee and got to go NOW' stops, I intend to not get off my bike.  This means missing all of the lovely free food that is put on during the day, stretching the legs, drinking tea etc, and just battling on drinking energy drinks, eating energy bars, and whatever you do with energy gels.  

If all goes well, I have a personal goal of ducking under 8 hours.  This would last year have put me in the top 175 out of 650 for my age group (veteran!) but will depend a lot on the weather being kind, some luck, and a very commited training regime.

To date, I have clocked up 3 consecutive 110 mile training weeks, and this will gradually escalate in the coming months until I am up to nearly double that.  Keeping well, eating carefully, and being boring (no drinking the night before a cycle, less chocolate, early to bed) will be part of the routine before May 13th.

The first £250 of sponsorship I raise will go to the MacMillan Charity, which is the Fred Whitton's main charity, and the next £250 will go to one of my favourite local charities, Bendrigg Trust, who help to provide respite care by taking young people with disability and giving them some astonishing outward bound style experiences.  Do look at their site and see some of the amazing things they do.

If any of you are around for the big day and wouldn't mind cheering me on, writing my name on the road on one of the 30% gradient hills (it seems to work for those Tour de France chaps), handing me the aforementioned energy food/water bottles, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks for reading this, thanks for any sponsorship that you can give, and I'll keep you up to date through this site of how the training is going!

Paul

My charity

Bendrigg Trust

Bendrigg Trust

Charity Registration No. 508450

The Bendrigg Trust runs high quality courses and holidays for disabled and disadvantaged people. It aims to promote integration, encourage independence and build self-confidence through the use of residential experience and the safe provision of adventurous activities delivered by dedicated, qualified staff.

Donations 19

heart.png

Donation by Anonymous on 25/05/12

£16.80

+ £4.20 Gift Aid

heart.png

Congratulations.

Donation by Norene on 25/05/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

cupcake.png

Well done!

Donation by Richard, Alison, Lewis and James on 25/05/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

cupcake.png

Donation by Kitridding Farm on 25/05/12

£5.00

+ £1.25 Gift Aid

smiley.png

Well done, glad it went well.

Donation by Paul and Rebecca Page on 21/05/12

Jumping.png

Fantastic, well done

Donation by Daniel Tomlinson on 18/05/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

thumbsUp.png

Sorry for delay in donating. Presume you have done it now so well done, great effort. If you didn't manage it well done for trying.

Donation by Jon & Gill W-B on 15/05/12

Donation by Anonymous on 11/05/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

present.png

Happy pedalling - smile through the chafing....

Donation by Gin Tidridge on 23/04/12

£32.00

+ £8.00 Gift Aid

ThumbsUp.png

Good luck mate. May your chamois pad never chafe and those hairy pins never falter. p.s. Another tenner if you get under 8 hours!!

Donation by Al n Kate xxxx on 26/03/12

£40.00

+ £10.00 Gift Aid

Jumping.png

Donation by Julie Lawrenson on 09/03/12

smiley.png

Good luck on your race. I hope you are successful and enjoy it too. Lots of love

Donation by Aunt Do on 06/03/12

Superman.png

Wishing you the best on your Great Adventure

Donation by STEVEN HARRISON on 05/03/12

£25.00

+ £6.25 Gift Aid

windmill2.png

Donation by Yvonne and Keverne Piper on 05/03/12

Jumping.png

Go Paul!!! Will be thinking of you and willing you on - hope Jacki appreciates your thighs of steel! xxx

Donation by Gabriel Roberts on 02/03/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

smileys.png

What a great thing to do!:- If a bit crazy! Hope it goes well xx

Donation by The Woudenbergs on 29/02/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

windmill2.png

Go Paul! Enjoy those hills! Howie

Donation by howard crook on 21/02/12

£20.00

Trophy.png

John'll be with you in spirit but not legs! Best of luck with the training. x

Donation by The Squires on 09/02/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

Inmem.png

Proud of you Paul, you can do it. Good Luck Jim

Donation by Jim Bispham on 09/02/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

Donation summary

  • * Online donations£323.80
  • Offline donations£10.00
  • Text donations£0.00
  • Total raised£333.80
  • Gift Aid£73.45

* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.