Richard Ballantine
The Long Ride Down
Fundraising for The Sick Children's Trust
Story
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My brother in law Ant Hirst and I have talked for years about doing Land's End to John O'Groats. However Ant's second son had to stay in hospital after he was born for some time and Ant and his wife stayed in accomodation funded by the Sick Children's Trust. This is the text from his page.
"On May 13th 2010 our second son Noah was born and within twelve hours became very ill and was rushed to the Sheffield Children's Hopital where he was diagnosed with Hirschprungs disease which is a rare bowel condition. He spent the first month of his life in the Neonatal Unit.
My wife and I were lucky enough to secure accomodation in Treetops residential which is attached to the hospital, this allowed us 24 hour access to day and night.
Treetops provides home from home accomodation for parents of sick children and is run solely on charitable donations and costs £59,000 per year to keep open and £26 pays for one family to stay for one night.
On July 24th myself, Oliver Lewis and Dick Ballantine will begin a cycle ride from John "O" Groats to Lands End and will cover 150 miles each day, completing the 900 mile route on July 29th."
Ant and a colleague hatched a plan to do it the hard way, John O'Groats to Land's End. Luckily I was invited to join them. We are all set to leave on July 24th 2011 and want to raise as much money as possible. Ant and his colleagues and pupils have already started fund raising events, including running the Sheffield Half Marathon.
For some interesting stats about this journey-visit this link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land's_End_to_John_o'_Groats
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