Story
Hello and thanks for taking the time to visit our page and supporting our challenge.
We are Elis and Tom, and we’re 1st year students at the University of Birmingham.
Between 9-10 July, we are cycling 270 km from Birmingham to Bournemouth to raise money and awareness for the charity ‘Cureleukaemia’. This is something that we have felt strongly about achieving for a long time, but we feel now is the correct time to share it with our friends, family and hopefully more!
This cause is not only close to both of us personally but affects many more people globally. For those who are not aware or want to understand the effects and symptoms of the disease, head to cureleukaemia.co.uk.
More about the ride: On day one, we set off from the Selly Oak campus at the University of Birmingham, through Shakespeare’s Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire and heading into the Cotswolds where we take on a top 50 UK cycling climbs, ‘Saintbury Hill’. This 6.5km beast of a climb averages a 9.2% gradient and we go as steep as 22%! After making sure we’re still alive at the top, we cycle another 56km, where we stop for the night in a small town in Swindon called Cricklade.
A longer but less intense day two for us with a total of 155km to eat up. A tough start with a few steep gradients in our way up until the 135km stage but after that, we look towards our Sandbanks goal, cycling in-between Reading and Bath and then further along between Yeovil and Southampton. For the last stretch, we will be accompanied by two friends from Bournemouth, meeting in Fordingbridge in Hampshire where we will cycle the last 32km into the beautiful peninsular of Sandbanks.
As well as keeping all donators up to date with training and progress for preparation for the ride, we will also be live streaming the ride at important moments throughout the two days. This cycle tests our endurance, mental strength and patience like nothing else we’ve ever done before so any support no matter how small is greatly appreciated!
Thank you for the companies sponsoring the ride whose logo will be on our cycling jerseys.