They Did It!

[caption id="attachment_6190" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Lynn Henshaw with Mike and Tom[/caption]

A little while ago, Stockport's Lynn Henshaw told us about the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride (held on July 14th), where she was supporting her colleagues Mike Makinson and Tom Sheehy's bid to ride with over 4,600 cyclists to raise funds for The Christie, the well-respected cancer hospital serving the Manchester area.

Lynn has written a wonderful account of the day, with some fantastic news awaiting readers at the end. So forget the headline, which gives the game away re how they fared and read on!

What a fantastic challenge, on a beautiful sunny day! Well it was for me as I was just sat in the car with the windows open enjoying the views and the breeze. Thankfully the sun stayed away until about 11.30 and there was a cool breeze, so the heat wasn’t too bad.

[caption id="attachment_6191" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Oh look, see where we are![/caption]

The lads started off at Manchester United’s ground at a very early 6.30am. My car was loaded with water, energy drinks, energy gel and lots of food - not forgetting the jelly babies.

I went off in front to the first stop only to find the lads had cycled on past. What did slow them down was Tom... no, sorry it was a very big hill  just after the first  stop!

I meet them at Haigh Hall for their first pit stop. The lads looked good and felt good - this was about half way. 

The boys also had a quick stop  to meet up with John Buckley Retired House Manager, Blackpool at the village he lives in that the route took us through. John took the photo at the top of this post.

[caption id="attachment_6192" align="alignleft" width="224"] Now for those all important banana butties...[/caption]

The last stop was at Lea for Banana butties and lots of energy drinks.

Little did Tom know the last 15 mile had 2 steep hills. 6 miles out from the finish Tom hit the brick wall. He was exhausted, but with Mike’s guidance they both finished the race at 1.20pm. I'm so very proud; what an achievement for them both, especially Tom who had only really started to ride a bike about 3 months ago.

You had to be there on the route to see how many people had given up their day to raise money for The Christies. It was a very emotional day - people who you could see had hardly ridden bikes; disabled people in wheelchairs that had a bike attached with a young lad peddling so they could be part of the day; lads on a 3 seater bike; bike clubs out for a nice leisurely ride there and back but still raising money. Tom didn’t fancy the cool down ride back with them though!

[caption id="attachment_6193" align="aligncenter" width="640"] At the finish line and a job well done[/caption]

Thank you so very much to you both from the bottom of my heart. You are amazing, I am so proud,  we have raised around £3,500  - that is a HUGE  amount of money that will help Christies fight this horrendous disease and save lives.

With Thanks,

Lynn Henshaw

Here is Lynn's Just Giving Page.