Alan Kinnear
Mark Porton Memorial ride for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research
Fundraising for Blood Cancer UK
Story
After a couple of hundred miles and 17hrs later we reached Wrexham, having left Stevenage at 04.15. As feared we rode into a relentless headwind all the way, and 6 punctures (all Tony’s). County borders crossed: Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire and then into North Wales and Wrexham, where John managed to slip stream a mysterious van, reaching 45mph.
We hit our lowest point at around the 170 mile mark when we ran out of water between scheduled stops, but knowing we had a welcoming party in Wrexham that included Mark’s wife (Lorna), Sister (Julie) and Mum (Chris) all dressed up in their finest LLR clothes kept us going. Their support and encouragement throughout was invaluable, thank you.
Thank you also to our wives, Dawn, Michelle and Judy for covering our many hours absent when in training. Thank you to Tony’s mum for standing at the roadside in the dark to wave us out of Stevenage.
A heartfelt thank you to Andy and Louise, who tracked us in the van, set up camps along the way, provided great food, delivered Alan to the start in Stevenage and everyone else who helped us along, the support was phenomenal.
Thank you to Judy and little Freya, for driving to Wrexham to take John and Tony back to Stevenage.
Thank you to Andre for riding with us in the early hours for moral support, and to Mark’s brother in-law (Mark Williams), for riding with us at the last stage. You spurred us to push on and ensured there were no last minute wrong turns.
Thank you to Mark Porton in whose memory this ride was for. He was a great example to us, a great man, a great friend and he is so badly missed.
To all donors and to all 'anonymous' who we can't thank personally. All your donations will be money well spent in the quest to beat blood cancer and these kept us going.
Thank you to the strangers who supported (or took pity on) us and donated along the route. Thank you to the barmaid who filled our bottles with water. Thank you Olivia Kinnear (9) for raising an additional £243.00.
Hayley Pearson, good luck on the Chester Marathon in October and Mark Williams on your cycle ride from London to Paris.
Thank you from Alan Kinnear, John Kinnear and Tony Pez.
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Tony Pez, John Kinnear and I, Alan Kinnear, I are cycling 206 miles from Stevenage in Hertfordshire to Wrexham in North Wales in memory of Mark Porton or Wrex as many people knew him. Andy Murray will be supporting, by tracking us all the way in the broom wagon and given the state of his van, he is the least likely of us all, to make it. Mark was one of the best and we were lucky to have known him for many years. We are raising money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research (LLR) because Mark died from Leukaemia on 1st October 2013, aged only 44 years. LLR do a fantastic job and won’t stop until every single one of the 38,000 people diagnosed with a blood cancer each year survives and can live their lives to the full. That’s why it is so important to raise money for them and why your contribution really will make a difference.
We are cycling because Wrex was also a keen cyclist, from Stevenage because that's where we met many years ago and where he spent most of his 20's until he moved back to Wrexham. The ride will be on Sunday the 7th June 2015 to celebrate his birthday.
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Thanks Alan, John, Tony & Andy