A team from Kingsbridge Estates (Ian Playford, Paul Butler & Jez Sharland) have decided to take on a challenge this May in support of Duchenne UK.

Duchenne UK

Duchenne UK is the country’s leading Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) charity. The charity connects scientists, industry, the NHS and families to accelerate research and bring the best care and treatments to everyone affected by DMD. All money raised from the Duchenne Dash funds vital research and accelerates the development of treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a devastating muscle-wasting disease diagnosed in childhood.

The Duchenne Dash is the charity’s annual signature cycling event and over the past 10 years, the Dash has raised more than £5.5 million for DMD research.

The cycle is 300km from London to Paris and is undertaken in only 24 hours! We will start in the afternoon of Friday 12th May at Herne Hill and ride south to Newhaven to catch an overnight ferry. Early on the following Saturday morning we’ll get back on our bikes in Dieppe ride to Paris to arrive that afternoon and meet our 24 hour deadline.

That gives us barely three months to build up some semblance of fitness to undertake this journey. So that means lots of training required through winter & spring. We’ll all glad that the event is in May when the days are long, so not too much riding in the dark we hope.

Our team fundraising target is an ambitious £16,000. However, if we raise £24,000 between us, we will commit to ride home too on the Monday (after a day in Paris refuelling!)

All funds that we raise go direct to Duchenne UK. We have each already covered the entry fee for undertaking the event which includes the ferry crossing, hotel in Paris and other logistics costs.

So we’d be delighted if you could support us and Duchenne UK in this endeavour and let’s together get to that £24,000 target soon to put us on the path of a 600km challenge. Let’s hit that target soon so we have enough time to ramp up our training if we know that we have the return leg to do too!

Together the funds raised will help fund the following:

£500 could help Duchenne UK provide 10 newly diagnosed families with a vital DMD Family Information Pack to support them in the dizzying first days, weeks and months after their child’s diagnosis

£1,000 can help a Duchenne UK host their annual Parent, Guardian and Information Information Day to deliver free-of-charge of support to DMD families all over the UK. Helping them to better understand DMD and their child’s rights in terms of care, treatment and education.

£2,000 could help pay for scientists to conduct life-changing DMD research.

£4,000 could help Duchenne UK to develop ground-breaking assistive technology devices that will restore what DMD steals from children – mobility. This could help them retain their mobility for longer, and with it their independence and dignity.

£5,000 could help pay towards a clinical trial, bringing hope to families living with DMD.