Photos by Colleen and Lyn Gauntlett. Left click on an image to enlarge
On a bleak, windy, rain swept Sunday morning, a few members of the choir’s cycling club Côr Meibion Caldicot Cycle Club raised the brand new gazebo, chewed on a few bacon butties, knocked back a cup of coffee (nothing stronger) and took to their bikes to begin an enduring and gruelling attempt to ride around a circular route of 1.95 miles as many times as possible within eight hours. The target was to achieve 500 laps by all participants. The entry fee was £10 a rider, or less if only a few laps were to be ridden and at the end of the day, some 37 riders took part, completed an amazing 608 laps and raised a staggering £600 for the Prostate Cymru charity.
The ride was made particularly hard by the off shore westerly gales blowing right in their faces for about half the circuit. As the sun briefly came out, and the rain stopped, we were joined by Caldicot AFC cycle club and Newport Social Cycling Club who took in our ride as part of their day out. We were also pleased to be joined by Rob Shipley, who together with Ryan Farley will be setting out to ride around the world in about six weeks time. This year long trip will cover about 18,000 miles and is to raise money for Cancer UK. Many thanks for taking the time out to join us, Rob. We have learned that they have no sponsorship for their trip so if you would like to help them, please let us know. For more details, please visit Rob and Ryan’s web site at Rob and Ryan. (www.c4cruk.co.uk) Also we would like to wish new chorister Russell Woodward our best wishes on his forthcoming charity ride from John o’ Groats to Lands End to raise funds for Velindre Hospital. Please give them you maximum support.
We would also like to thank our sponsors; J & W Fabrication, Reliance, Mii Engineering, Pro Steel Engineering, Hire One and The Rose Inn for their generous support to our fund raising activities this year. Without their help our major events would not be possible. The Choir is trying to raise as much as possible for Prostate Cymru and is aiming for £10,000 by the end of the year. So far we have raised about £1300 including Gift Aid and we still have our big event, the Fishguard to Caldicot 3 day ride in July to come. We are planning other events and your support will be greatly appreciated.
Below is a record of those who took part in the ride. – Mike Blake 54 laps (100 miles) – David Whittle 47 – Nick Powell 38 – Spike Hughes 32 – Tony Griffiths 32 – Leon Jones 30 – Steve Bright 30 – Russ Woodward 28 – Nathan Finney 27 – Grahame Morton 25 – Robert Shipley 21 – Greg Tinker 20 – Chris Davidson 18 – Sue Earnshaw 15 – Alyn Dawe 14 – Jason Dawe 14 – David John 12 – Karl Gregory 12 – Mark Anderson 11 – Martin Slape 11 – Carolyn Griffiths 10 – Delyth Gregory 10 – Julie Donoghue 10 – Garry Veale 10 – Stefan Edwards 9 – Dave Gould 7 – Paul Carlson 7 – Robert Brown 6 – Jean Carlson 6 – Rachel Davies 5 – Mike Griffiths 5 – Jeff Lewis 5 – Beris Lewis 5 – Marion Davidson 5 – Paul Griffiths 4 – Alun Lawrence 3 – John Nicholson 2 Many thanks to the Support Team of Dave Kirton, Peter Williams, Theo Roberts, Siân Hatton, Phil Cody, Roger Matthews, Vanessa Nicholson and Lyn and Colleen Gauntlett who took the photographs.
A report with 83 additional photos is on our Facebook page and these can be seen on the link Endurance Ride Facebook which will take you directly to our Cycle Club Facebook page.