Ross Gooderson
Ross's Land's End to John O'Groats Cycle
Fundraising for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity
Story
Hi everyone, and thank you for visiting my page.
Later this year I will cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats (how far can it be really?). As you can tell, my original plan for a relaxing beach holiday on an idyllic tropical island deviated slightly!
Once I’d signed up for the challenge, it transpired that the cycle route covers a total of 1000 miles over a period of 12 days – so I’ll be riding on average over 80 miles per day (I really am going to have to get the most comfortable saddle money can buy!), crossing the Scottish border on day 7.
In a moment of good sense, I decided to cycle in Aid of The Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity – Theatres for Theatres Appeal. The Appeal is a three-year initiative (with strong links to the theatre industry) to raise £4 million to help fund two new state of the art operating theatres at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
These theatres will be used to treat children with complex and often life threatening neurological and craniofacial conditions. They will allow the hospital to see an extra 20 per cent more patients. Despite being a centre of excellence the hospital has cramped and outdated facilities; they need new buildings and equipment to allow them to continue the world-class treatment they provide.
Knowing that I’m cycling for such a good cause will make the challenge even more rewarding, and both the Appeal and I would be extremely appreciative for any donation you are able to make, large or small.
I’ll be posting regular updates on this page, and on the facebook page which I’ll set up in due course, documenting the training process (which will hopefully have me in a near-ready state by September), and the cycle itself, so do please check back here if you’d like to keep tabs on my progress!
Thank you to everybody for your support – it will help me on the way to breaking my target of at least £3,500 for a good cause (it would be great to get to £5,000!), and I’m sure it will make all the (inevitable?) pain that I’ll go through seem insignificant!
Best wishes,
Ross x
Update: 10th July Having bought a specialised (carbon fibre!) road bike, I’ve been out training most weekends doing rides of between 12 and 50 miles. My training route now consists of laps of a pretty gruelling 12 mile route down the North Downs and then back up again … I’ve managed 4 laps in one go to date and was pretty tired afterwards - I’m hoping that cycling on the flat will be a lot easier! Last weekend I cycled 75 miles. I’m now really looking forward to the challenge itself – enjoying the scenery I’ll cycle through, the sunny weather which the whole of the will (hopefully!) be having, sampling the local specialities from Cornish ale and pasties to Scotch whisky … and meeting all the other cyclist en route. Here are some statistics that may interest you:
According to my bike computer, I’ve cycled a total distance of 408 km on my training rides so far at an average speed of 19.5 kph. This is the same distance as to but only a quarter of the total distance from to John O’Groats! I’ve also hit a top speed of 50.2 kph in training – had a known that at the time, I’d probably have slowed down. I must also report (reluctantly) that I’ve fallen off once, although I was stationary at the time, due to my feet getting stuck in the pedals!!
Update: 16th July
I've been featured on the Great Ormond Street Blog:
Update:
I've been features on the Great Ormond Street Website - http://www.gosh.org/get-involved/hold-your-own-event/meet-our-fundraisers/rosss-cycling-challenge/
Update:
A huge thank you to the staff at The Savoy Theatre and the company of Legally Blonde The Musical who raised an amazing £4217.50 towards the charity from bucket collections after performances at the theatre between 18th and 22nd August. Many thanks to all audience-members who donated!
Ross
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
Although I’ll be funding all the necessary kit I’ll need for the challenge myself, a small proportion of the donations will be used to cover some trip costs, but the more money I raise, the smaller that proportion will be.