Matt's Maggie Harrison Memorial Ride 2022
Matt Harrison is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support
In memory of Maggie Harrison
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Here we are again folks!
To commemorate 25 years since my mum, Maggie passed away, it is time for another challenge to raise money for the great folks at MacMillan Cancer that supported her and me all those years ago.
5 years ago I knew I wanted to mark the 20 year anniversary of my mum passing away by raising money for the amazing guys at MacMillan. Having never cycled before, I co-opted a group of friends to join me and we set a target of £1000 and et ourselves the challenge of cycling from Sunderland where my mum was born and raised to Rugeley in Staffordshire where I was raised, via Pontefract in Yorkshire where I was born. That £1000 target became £2000 when we raced by the £1000, the £2000 quickly became £5000 and I was delighted when all donations were totalled up and between the 11 of us that rode, we’d raised over £6000 for our efforts.
Fast forward to 2022…5 years later, at least 5kg heavier and more than 55 miles further…that is the challenge that I’ve set myself and I’m delighted that some of the original peloton will be joining 5 years on, plus we’ll be joined by some new faces.
The plan this time around is to cycle 275 miles in 3 days from Ascot to Roubaix in France (famous for being the finishing line of the world famous annual Paris to Roubaix cycle race, known as the “Hell of the North” because of the difficult cobbled roads that form large sections of the route). We will be cycling via Brugge and Ghent in Belgium en route to Roubaix to take in some of Europe's classic cycling areas.
Given everything going on in the world right now, rising costs of energy, fuel, and most other things, I’m setting the modest target of £1000 again, but would dearly love to raise more than this whilst celebrating the memory of my mum's life that was taken way too early some 25 years ago, and at the same time, show my support for MacMillan Cancer Support so they can continue to provide the fantastic help they offer to those suffering from cancer and their family members.
I truly do hope that as many of you are able to join me as possible either in person at some stage of the ride, or through words of support and spreading the word on social media.
The 1st event was amazing, a very befitting way to remember my mum who gave up so much of her time to help others - it was so lovely to finish in the road where I grew up and be greeted by those neighbours who still lived there and remembered Maggie so fondly….back then I stupidly said to the guys, let’s do this every 5 years!
Time moves quickly and age seems to move more quickly, but I truly hope we can make the 2nd Maggie Harrison Memorial Ride event as special, amazing and emotional as the 1st (with less punctures!)
As before, this JustGiving page up is set up as a team page so others joining in the ride can link their pages to this should they wish to. Although I will be raising money for MacMillan, this is my personal choice, for the reasons explained. Others who have already committed to the challenge may be doing the ride for a charity closer to their hearts, so please feel free to support those guys too.
As I said the first time round, thanks for taking the time to read this...if you got this far....275 miles will be nothing, so get your lycra ironed, tyres pumped and come and join us on the ride (however you can)...it's going to be fun!!
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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
Original page story and background below….
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/maggieharrisonmemorialride220