Hey everyone,

The current situation:

For those of you who have been following our charity bike ride journey you will have noticed we’ve made a few key modifications.

1)      What started as a four day / 300 mile cycle to Paris – no longer involves the Paris bit.

2)      That we have recruited two more cyclists in Robbie and Tessa.

There is a very good reason why the route of this sponsored bike ride has changed. Whilst the London to Paris event was advertised by the MS Trust themselves, the trip was actually run by an external tour operator. We were aware from the start that this external company would take a cut of the sponsorship money to cover travel, hotels and food throughout the four day trip. The problem occurred when we investigated these costs further and found out this company would take £1,350 for these items previously mentioned. That is half of our £2,700 fundraising target. The reality is that neither of us is happy that at least half (more if we didn’t reach our £2,700 target) of the money you have kindly donated will go to a holiday company.

WE ARE STILL GOING TO CYCLE 300 MILES IN FOUR DAYS

The challenge:

We originally decided to set ourselves a physically demanding challenge to help a good cause and we still want to do this. As explained above we want every single penny you have donated to go directly to the MS Trust, so Paris is a no go. Instead, we are still going to cycle 300 miles in four days on a route we have mapped out in the UK. This means 100% of what is donated to us will go straight to the MS Trust. Whilst the dates aren’t certain, we are hoping to complete our event from the 27^th-30^th of July. Obviously, we are no longer restricted by registration fees etc, so if anyone fancies joining the challenge (could just cycle one day of the event with us) let us know, the more the merrier.

Why are we doing it?

As I’m sure all of you know the reason we are so keen to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis Charities is because Ellie and Bev (Ells’ mum) both have MS. There is a huge difference in the treatment Ellie and Bev have on offer and this is simply due to the advancements in MS medication that have occurred between the time they were both diagnosed. The money we raise won’t cure MS but it will go towards helping those with MS and those that will be diagnosed in the future. For example, Ellie currently uses the Capaxone treatment which involves injecting the medication daily which is obviously painful and a pretty grim end to each day. They (the doctors, not Ells and Bev) are currently trying to make this medication in a tablet form, which would clearly be fantastic for Ells and everyone else using Capaxone.   

If you would like to donate to the MS Trust, that would be great, no pressure though. Our approach is to try and get little amounts of money from loads and loads of people. This could be where you could play a part, simply spreading the word of what we are doing and why we are doing it! If you have any ideas you think could help us raise some more money, please let us know.

Cheers

Jamie, Ellie, Robbie and Tessa

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