Tour de Kernow: ‘The Ultra’

We are in total awe of this incredible combined effort, putting an ‘Ultra Twist’ on the route for our upcoming Pedal 4 Patients cycle challenge.

Organiser and member of Penzance Wheelers, John Butt, gives a run down of the event:

“Firstly, thank you to everyone that entered the event and supported the fundraising for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Charity – to date we have raised £1013 plus gift aid of £243 giving us a total so far of £1256.

The riders set off just after 4am heading towards Land’s End – apart from a small burst of rain an hour or so later the riders had a dry day cycling the figure of 8 route around Cornwall.

The concept of the route was to take in locations where significant hospitals or health care buildings were and will be similar to the RCHT Charity Pedals 4 Patients cycle event in September.

After a few miles the riders split into smaller groups – with a couple of solo riders leading the way followed by the main group.

A couple of riders took the option to complete the first half of the route 150 km – one because of multiple punctures.

We set up 4 checkpoints for riders to record their progress – these were Lands End, Helston, St Austell and Padstow.

The first riders finished the 300 km route in under 13 and a half hours, closely followed by pairing of Wheal Velocity riders Simon & 18-year-old Kevin.

Other riders came in over the following hours – and a special note should be made for Amy who had mechanical problems at two-thirds distance resulting in only two working gears – she carried on cycling over some of the most challenging parts of the course and arrive back at the HQ in Wheal Jane at 11.30pm, 19 hours after setting off!

In total the riders covered a combined mileage of over 2000 miles, with a combined time of 160 hours of pedalling.”

An incredible achievement! Thank you to everyone involved.