ANNA AND STUART'S GREAT ADVENTURE
June 14th - Cycling LEJOG
A couple of months ago, an email popped up in our inbox from Justgiving to say that a new fundraising page had been created. Always music to our ears! We were delighted to discover that our fundraisers were Anna Thompson and Stuart Crook, who had set themselves the awesome challenge of cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats. They had chosen to support us to thank us for funding some of Anna's PHD last year.
We are really grateful to both Anna and Stuart for choosing to help our charity by taking on this personal challenge, and to all their wonderful supporters who encouraged them on their way. As well as raising such a fantastic amount of money for us, they also helped to raise awareness along the way with their DCT branded cycling shirts (which we were able to organise at the 11th hour!! - phew) and by getting some good press coverage in three local papers.
Now over to Anna...
Most of Britain were delighted with the arrival of the first heat wave of the summer on 14th June 2010. Stuart and I were part of the small minority not so happy with the perfect summers day as we set off from Penzance train station on our laden bikes towards Land’s End - the starting point of our challenge.
The first couple of days were very daunting, as it was sizzling hot and extremely hilly! However, we enjoyed the stunning scenery of the north Cornwall coastline, as well as the wildlife and pasties. We quickly began to adapt to cycling 80 miles a day, and happily the weather cooled down, and so gradually the last couple of hours cycling each day became progressively easier to finish. Highlights of our trip included crossing the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol and River Severn crossing, arriving in Chester to a welcome party of Anna’s family, cycling through the lakes (despite it pouring with rain), all of Scotland as it was so beautiful but especially the Island of Arran, being able to eat as much and whatever we wanted, bluebell forests, and of course arriving at John O'Groats!
We cycled a total of 1,032 miles in 13 days. Although we can’t pretend to have loved every second, seeing our northbound progress each day, the beautiful views of the Great British countryside and the thought of all the money we were raising for such a good cause kept us going. We were extremely lucky with our bikes, having no punctures, broken spokes or accidents along the way. Stuart would like to think that this was down to all the effort he put into bike maintenance. We also believe we got all our troubles and bad luck out of the way on our practice trips. On one occasion, 20 miles from home, Stuart’s rear wheel ceased and I had to cycle with the broken wheel to find the nearest bike shop, against the clock as it was 5pm on a Saturday. Another incident was Stuart’s peddle falling off after a very wet 65 miles cycling in North Wales and still 7 miles from home. My dad and I managed to tow Stuart back home for a well earned rest and Gin and Tonic!
We are so grateful to all our family, friends and everyone else who have helped us to raise over £1600 for The Daniel Courtney Trust. The support and encouragement we received from the Courtney family (as well as generous sponsorship from many extended family members) was beyond anything we could have hoped for and we send our sincere thanks to them. We were delighted to raise money for such a worth while yet little known charity and to help spread awareness and knowledge about microvillous atrophy.
Anna Thompson
Daniel was lucky to have received two transplants in his short lifetime. As Daniel's family we will always be grateful to two very special families who gave Daniel such an incredible gift. Raising awareness of the need for more people to sign the Organ Donor Register is very important to us.
Thank you for your interest in our Charity - we hope you will find this website informative. If you would like to support us, please click on the links under How to Help, or make a donation.
