Not many people can lay claim to the momentous feat recently achieved by one of our intrepid supporters, Simon Waldock. Simon recently completed one of Britain’s toughest cycling challenges, cycling from Edinburgh to London and back again in just five days … all in aid of our Alan Shearer Foundation.
Since the beginning of the year, Simon has been training and preparing for the ride ensuring he was in good shape to take on the challenge for us. Simon visited our Alan Shearer Centre just before he embarked on his ride, which gave him a major boost and extra inspiration to start the challenge.
Known as the LEL, the epic bike ride covers 1441km and includes 11,128m of gruelling climbs over an out-and-back course between the capital cities of London and Edinburgh. It has been described as a contender for the hardest cycling event in the UK.
The epic cycle journey certainly had its tricky moments, including exhaustion and bike failure, which Simon blogged in a peddle by peddle account. You can read his full, captivating story using the link below.
After completing the bike ride, Simon came back to our Alan Shearer Centre to present a cheque for an amazing £1,600! With this incredible achievement under his belt, we couldn’t resist asking whether he would consider completing the LEL again. He told us he may give the cycling a long rest for a while and would “never do the LEL again”… however, in the same breath he added “never say never”!
A huge thank you to Simon and his family for raising funds for the Foundation, which continues to help fund a range of specialist disability services available at the Alan Shearer Centre.
Read an account of Simon’s epic journey here.
