Hi, and thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving Page. I’m Paul, and with my son Tay we are on a fund-raising mission as a family team.

In April of 2005 I lost my brother Stephen suddenly to ischemic heart failure, and in March 2022, Tay lost one of his best friends to a sudden cardiac arrest. He was only 20. It was a huge shock to his family and friends, and totally unexpected.

Unfortunately, heart conditions run in our family, on both my wife’s and my sides. On my side of the family, we have myself who was diagnosed with Microvascular Angina back in 2010, and then we have my mother and grandmother who also had angina.

On my wife’s side, my mother in law (Tay’s Grandmother) suffered from Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (a hereditary condition) and Takotsubo (a stress related heart condition). My wife has to be routinely monitored for the hereditary condition. Heart conditions run throughout my wife’s family including Great Grandparents, Uncles, and Cousins.

In 2022, Tay wanted to do something positive, and his thoughts went to fund raising in honour of his friend and family. With his love of mountain biking, he felt that supporting the British Heart Foundation through the London to Brighton Offroad Mountain Bike ride was the perfect challenge.

He inspired me, and we took on the challenge as a family team last year.

Last year, Tay and I completed the 61 mile journey in ten hours, and raised £843.55 We want to beat that and our time this year, and our training is well under way.

Tay, I, and the British Heart Foundation would appreciate any donation you can make to help with the battle to beat heart and circulatory diseases.

The Challenge:

Date = Saturday 21st September 2023.

The London to Brighton Off road Mountain Bike ride is Europe’s biggest charity mountain bike event,

and covers 61 miles starting in Walton-on-Thames, with the finish line in Brighton. It is a great route, with a mix of terrain including cycle tracks, forest single track, and the South Downs Link. The ride starts at Apps Court Farm and picks up the Thames Cycle Track to leave the city behind. We then get to cycle through Weybridge, Shere, Southwater Country Park and Steyning. Then we have a monster climb up Truleigh Hill, before the final stretch into Brighton.

About the Charity:

The British Heart Foundation is a charity that raises money to fund ground-breaking research into cures and treatments for the broad range of heart and circulatory conditions. They have a vision of a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases. Their research moves us closer to this vision.