3 friends embark on a 100 mile ride to raise money for Isle Listen
August 24, 2023
Ride London started as an Olympic legacy event in 2012 and is now the UK’s biggest sportive which starts and finishes in central London featuring a loop of Essex.
Mark Harvey, James Gowans and Ed Walter decided to take on this challenge as a way to increase their fitness and spend more time on their bikes. “The opportunity to cycle on closed roads around the centre of London was too good to pass up” mentioned Ed when asked about the reasons he signed up for event. He continued “It’s an event that has been on our radar for a while now but is notoriously difficult to get a place; when a relative mentioned about the charity places through Isle Listen, we got excited!”
“The atmosphere at the riders zone the day before the event was epic- we just tried to soak up as much as we could, and the ride itself was incredible!” Mark enthused.
James who is currently sporting a broken shoulder from the recent Lighthouse Challenge was equally as enthusiastic about the ride itself, commenting on how many people he chatted to at the beginning of the ride, and then concentrating on getting his head down and racing the second half- “you can make of it what you want- it can be social or competitive- or a bit of both in my case, I loved it”.
This fantastic trio went on to raise a staggering £9460 for Isle Listen. This amount would enable seven young people access to a higher level of therapeutic support around issues such as self-harm, gender issues and mild to moderate anxiety, or fund the delivery of our mental health educational programme for one academic year, in one school, covering issues that can effect emotional wellbeing. Not all heros wear capes!
Isle Listen have secured 4 places for Ride London 2024 which is due to take place on 26th May. Please contact our fundraising team via email fundraising@islelisten.im if you are interested in securing a place.