We saw the 10 cyclists off at Hursts, Newport at 08.00. They went off in twos with a minute gap between the couples so as not to get in motorists way. The back up van followed. The weather was lovely at this point, not too hot yet.

 

Gary was determined to go the whole way, Ali thought she might stop at Shanklin and Dave thought Ventnor would be a good place to finish.

 

I received pictures from Ryde and Shanklin where some of our members encouraged the riders on. Hursts employees turned out to provide water and encouragement too.

 

I met them all at Ventnor where Hursts provided food, water and well received ice lollies. By now it was pretty hot. The next leg was to Freshwater and it was going to be hard!

 

Ali and Dave decided to cycle back to Newport and the others set off for Freshwater where Hursts again provided food and water! Our members turned out in force to cheer them on and that made a big difference. On to Cowes.

 

When Gary got to Cowes another couple of members welcomed him in - as did Ali and Dave! They decided to cycle on to Cowes and meet up so they could all finish together. Gary may have cycled 58 miles but they cycled 45!

 

Some of the Hursts directors, including our Dave Bowley, met up with the group in Cowes and they all cycled back to Hursts in Newport where a crowd of us welcomed them back. Again there was food and water if required.

 

Jevon, the Managing Director who had cycled the whole route, welcomed everyone back, congratulated them and gave them all engraved medals. Gary and I thanked them on behalf of the Heart Care Club as the money raised is for us.

 

Our three cyclists will have raised £1560 between them when all is collected! 

 

The whole total raised ( ours + Hursts)  is likely to be £3349, absolutely brilliant

 

Many thanks to everyone involved, there was a lot of organisation behind the ride and the whole day went off very well.

Lyn Smith