Archive for June, 2010

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

The Grand Finale- The Hertfordshire sponsored bike ride

With promises of sunshine and 20 degrees luck seemed to be on our side for the finale of the TCC Challenge but that all changed the night before the ride when we were putting up the colour coded arrows around the routes.

Dom and I had been up at Pacha in Victoria on the Saturday for the Pukka Up (Dom’s club promotion business) Ibiza launch party getting home at 7am the following day. 3 hours sleep later and we were in a car with Holly heading down to Clacton to help www.thetesticletour.com break a world record for the largest number of men standing in one place checking their testicles for abnormalities at the same time- certainly had more ‘normal mornings’ but all for a good cause; Holly and I have been asked to be trustees of the Testicle Tour when it’s established as a charity later on this year. Throughout the day the wind gradually picked up and by the time we’d spent 4 hours driving round the routes putting up the arrows it was clear that most of them would blow away by the morning!

People started to arrive and with a quick check of the tyres and a photo with the local paper we were off… all of us except for Batman that is (whose bat mobile broke down before we’d even left!) Dom lead the pack and I hung back with Batman, Batgirl & Robin with the intention of picking up anyone who got confused by the lack of arrows but by the time Batman got a replacement bike we were two hours behind the rest of the pack! We did manage to catch up with Amy, Alex & Andrew, some students from the college, though on one of their custard cream breaks. We soon began to realise that the 50 mile route wasn’t going to happen for us, Batman and Batgirl were having bike problems so we opted for the 25 mile route.

While we were plodding along Dom was up at the front of the pack with Dad being led by Holly’s step father, Phil and the Hadham Hamsters along with Charlie, Katy-Jane and her two friends she’d dragged along after convincing them to join her (while intoxicated) the night before. Holly and the rest of the people on the 10 mile route were arriving back at the hall with the exception of Ata who was determined to do the 50 mile route, he showed an amazing amount of passion and drive to continue evading a persuasive Holly to stay with her on the 10 mile route. The poor guy had to call it a day when the arrows got the better of him!

By now the smell of the BBQ was in the air for me and the bat crew, a right treat at the end of the ride- although it reminded me of the strung up sheep for Eid in Tunisia! Mum, Lynne and Molly all did a great job and helped us organise things back at the mission hall. The best snack was some of Cheryl’s mars bar slices, a calorie disaster but seriously delicious!

Fortunately fun was had by all on the day the only minor accident was Katy-Jane getting in a tangle on the loose stones as she turned into the mission hall for the finish- a minor graze but as she’d just achieved the 50 mile monster she didn’t seem too fussed. Holly’s step dad Phil got a bit too excited also when he went to meet the Hadham Hamsters for a ride the following week- he tripped over his bike on his way to the meet and cracked a rib! Nice one Phil.

As it stands after costs we’ve been working to approximately £60,000 of distributable funds;
- £42,000 has been donated to Macmillan which will be used to fund a Chemo Therapy nurse in Cumbria
- £9,000 to Orchid which will be used to support their cancer research lab and marketing material to raise further awareness of male cancer
- £4,500 to Willow Foundation to fund special days for seriously and terminally adults
- £4,500 to Starlight to fund special days and trips abroad for seriously ill children

Funds are still coming through in drips and drabs so the above amounts are likely to be slightly more but a huge heart filled thanks to everyone who has dug deep into their pockets to support our crazy challenge

So that’s the TCC Challenge all wrapped up. Going forward we will be assisting Darren & Richard with the fantastic work they do with the Testicle Tour (www.thetesticletour.com) and Holly & I have the honour of being Trustees to the charity. In the meantime please keep an eye on the facebook group ‘my cancer journey- TCC Challenge’ for photos of the May 31st bike ride and additional photos of us distributing the funds.

Thanks for your continued support and helping us to raise awareness over the importance of early cancer detection- DON’T BE BONKERS CHECK YOUR CONKERS!!

Jon & Dom.

jon@tccchallenge.co.uk
dom@tccchallenge.co.uk