JUMPING, CYCLING & TREKKING - ALL IN A DAYS WORK.........

As a lot of people visiting this page will know, on the 01st June 2010 Angel, Lily and I were blessed with the birth of our son & little brother - Riley Dylan Sperryn - he was amazing. On the 31st January 2011 Riley died from a condition known as Dialated Cardiomyopathy. The condition that cruelly snatched Riley from us was an undiagnosed heart issue that no-one would have ever known about, until the day that will be remembered by all so vividly. At less than 8 months old Riley touched the lives of all who met him, his beaming smile and laid back demeanour meant he warmed even the coldest of hearts the second they met him.

The response to this tragic event was overwhelming and, by way of doing something worthwhile and something befitting such a wonderful little person, I have set myself a challenge (or number of challenges) to raise as much as possible in aid of the British Heart Foundation so that their research into the causes and treatment of heart disease may continue in earnest.

As many of you will also know I have a very high level of fitness that I have managed to cunningly hide in the body of an overweight couch potato. My unique diet of nicotine, alcohol and rubbish food have long sustained my finely honed physique which means all I wish to do should come at hardly any effort whatsoever. That said, I may have to do a little training in order to achieve my goals so I have set them out below – I wouldn’t want you all to think I was just asking for your money without doing something myself!

So, my challenge is travel 39 miles (63km)......I don’t see it as a problem to be honest (have you read the bit above?), I’m going to do it as follows;-

(i)                                            - give up smoking – started 25 Sept and still going strong :)

(ii)                                           - lose weight (there is a maximum weight limit for (iv))

(iii)                                          - get fit (for (v) & (vi))

(iv) 3 km (DOWN)                  - 24/03/2012 - jump out of a plane (WITH parachute!)

(v) 54 km (ACROSS ish)       - 17/06/2012 - complete the London to Brighton cycle ride. (http://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events/view-event.aspx?ps=1001135)

and, finally,

(vi) 6 km (UP)                         - 08 to 18/09/2012 - trek to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. (http://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events/overseas-challenges/climb-kilimanjaro.aspx)

There, doesn’t seem so hard does it!

I thought the trek on its own was a bit easy so I threw in a couple of other activities just for good measure – but the main aim of this page is to raise the funds to complete the trek in September 2012.

All of the events are organised by and are raising money on behalf of the British Heart Foundation. The dates for the parachute jump and the bike ride are still to be confirmed but are likely to take place in May/June.

I will be approaching as many businesses and organisations as possible over the coming months to try and raise £4,000 minimum requirement for the trek (I will fund the jump, cycle ride and equipment for the trek myself if needs be) - but I also thought of it this way – I have over 400 friends on Facebook (aren’t I popular), if each of them could donated £10 then that would cover the Kilimanjaro trip and donate over £2000 to BHF. I know not everyone has that ‘spare’ – but I don’t go until September 2012 so it's only about £1 a month between now and then.........so please, please, please dig deep and donate now.

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.