I've raised £2000 to Craig's Off Road Hand Bike Fund
Organised by Chris Dines
Story
On 20th -21st July 2019 I’m competing in the National 24 Hour Time Trial Championship. Aside from a desire to compete, I am also raising money towards a specialist handcycle to support 25 year old Craig, the son of a good friend of mine, to re-gain the freedom on the road, which he lost after an horrific cycling accident left him paralysed from the chest down in July 2018. Please contribute if you can. The full story about Craig is below.
The Challenge:
This competition involves cycling solo, non-stop, for 24 Hours on a series of roads in the North West of England. It’s been an ambition of mine to do this for several years. There are 100 competitors including the elite from the sport of endurance cycling.
I love endurance stuff, but this will be stretching me (and probably my support team) to a new level. To give you an idea of the challenge, my personal target is to do over 600km in the 24 hours – the equivalent of doing the famous London to Brighton Cycling event 6 times in one day. I also expect to burn around 18,000 calories – similar to doing a sub 4 hour marathon four times in a row!
Craig's Story
Here’s more about Craig and his partner Claire:
Before my accident I was an outgoing, water-loving, adventurous PhD student. We love travelling and doing all sorts of water based or adventurous sports.
In July 2018 our lives changed drastically when I was involved in a cycling collision on the way to work. The accident caused a T4 complete spinal cord injury which has left me paralysed from the chest down and reliant on a wheelchair. After 6 months in hospital undergoing intense rehabilitation, we're ready to continue searching for adventure.
My partner Claire and I want to inspire other wheelchair users to get out and get active and prove that nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it which is why we document our progress on our YouTube and Instagram pages.”
See more about Craig and Claire’s inspirational journey to continuing to live life to the full together on their
Since leaving the care system Craig has been working on completing his PHD which is now largely done (and on time as planned) as well as starting to get active (playing wheelchair rugby, basketball, recently paddle boarding (seated). He also took part in the Inter spinal unit games for Stoke Mandeville – a competition between UK spinal units for spinal cord injury patients in the last 12 months – winning swimming events and medals in Tennis and Table tennis. In August he is having a weekend water skiing and wakeboarding.
It seemed right that I use this National 24 Hour Time Trial Championship to contribute to Craig’s handbike so he and Claire can carry on adventuring together! Thank you for any support towards my Challenge!
This video gives you an idea of Craig's active lifestyle:
The Bike
These are the types of bikes which are fit for his purpose, which I want to raise money towards. The cost of equipment for people like Craig is extremely expensive – he purchased a spare set of wheels for his wheelchair recently so he had an indoor and outdoor set (in essence just bike wheels - £400+) . A bike like this can cost many thousands, so I hope I can make a dent in his target to help him go wherever he wants, when he wants.
