In 2008, starting at the Great Wall, my Dad and I cycled 680km in 7 days through the wild mountains of rural China to raise money for Macmillan, we helped raise £238,000! In March, 2011, we cycled 700km in 7.5 days, Coast to Coast across a very hot Mexico and helped raise another £195,000!

So, in October 2012, with one more challenge left inside him before he turns 70, my Dad and I we will be repeating this challenge, but this time across parts of East Africa for a ride on the wild side! It is a pioneering challenge for Macmillan that promises to very difficult, very hot, very steep and very scary.
We are joining 50 other idiots to cycle across the hot planes of Kenya, through national parks, across savannah grassland, up, and up, and up into dizzy altitudes of the foothills and forests of Mount Kilimanjaro, descending down through Masai farmland, before we finally climb the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley and finish on the caldera of the Ngorongoro Crater.

This cycle challenge will push us to our limits as we adapt to the climate and take on the rough terrain of Africa’s wilderness, but more importantly it will raise a lot more money for Macmillan Cancer Support. 

Obviously this will be an amazing experience for us too, which is why we are paying ALL of our own travel costs so ALL the fund raising goes towards the charity itself. But for those who think this is a holiday, don't be fooled, our 7 days will consist of cycling up ~90km mountains in absurd heat on rough tracks, rough cycling and then at the end of the day, rough camping.....on my last challenge I got 182 fly bites on my legs, washed in a mud pool with water snakes and had a vomiting virus on day 6 whilst climbing a 30km mountain in 38'C......deserve a couple of quid? Go on!!
I have cycled over 2230 miles in training in the last 6 months and our group fund raising total currently stands at £190,000, which is amazing, but we would like to push for £200,000 and really make it worth while.

Every day over 700 people in the UK are told they have cancer. More than two million people in the UK today have had a cancer diagnosis and more than one in three will be diagnosed at some time in their life. As well as taking action today to support people from the moment they suspect they have cancer, Macmillan are shaping the future of cancer care. Their increasing range of services, including Macmillan nurses, doctors and other health and social care professionals, cancer care centres, a range of cancer information, practical help at home and help with money, is funded entirely through the generosity of their supporters.

   * £10 can pay for 21 copies of The Cancer Guide to help someone recently diagnosed with cancer.

   * £100 can enable the Cancer Support Phone Service help people affected by cancer.

   * £157 can fund a Macmillan Grant to cover the cost of a person's travel to hospital for treatment.

   * £350  can pay for a much needed convalescent break for someone with cancer or their carer.

   * £954 can fund a Macmillan nurse for a working week.

I have pledged to raise a minimum of £3,750 and as previously I will be paying my own expenses and therefore all of your donation will go to  Macmillan Cancer Support. With your help, I hope to raise much more than this and hope that you will consider sponsoring me in my challenge, which I am aware is a very minor one compared with the challenge that cancer patients face every day.         

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