Last month, a self-confessed novice cycling duo from Guernsey took part in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, a 969-mile, nine-day charity cycle challenge.
This year’s team from Deloitte’s Guernsey office comprised of Mike De Robillard and India Hodgson-Ferry. Funds raised by the two cyclists totaled over £2,500.00 and were donated to the British Paralympic Association.
This ‘end to end’ ride is known as one of the UK’s toughest cycle challenges. During the first few days, cyclists faced an incline of 15,000ft and the longest single day was a grueling 126 miles.
Though beautiful, the route was extremely tough taking riders along coastal roads, moorland, rolling countryside and majestic hills through 23 different counties.
Deloitte in Guernsey has been a big supporter of the event during the last five years and over £30,000 has been raised to date for various charities including Male Uprising Guernsey (MUG).
Mr De Robillard says: ‘This was my first time participating in the Ride Across Britain so I was rather anxious about the challenge, but also very excited to explore Britain by bike. I am a novice rider and only started cycling earlier this year so I was certainly motivated to put the training hours in and build confidence to endure distance riding.
‘Every day the ride presented different mental and physical challenges but it was great to connect with new friends, and the sense of comradery during the ride and at base camp was brilliant. It was a very well organised event and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure. I do miss our ‘RAB’ group!
‘Deloitte has a very strong partnership with The British Paralympic Association. This event has become a superb platform to raise both awareness and funds, particularly coming so soon after Britain’s fantastic Paralympic performance in Rio,’ concludes Mr De Robillard.
Since its inception in 2010, Deloitte Ride Across Britain cyclists have raised over 1.8 million pounds for the British Paralympic Association, clocking up over 2,500,000 fundraising miles that have helped disabled athletes succeed at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics.
