On the 1st July 2012, I will continue my fully-fledged mid-life crisis, competing in La Vaujany cyclosportive, 173.5 km up and down (but mainly up) the French Alps, for the UCL Cancer Institute Research Trust.  I am reliably informed that the course involves 3850 metres of Alpine Col climbing including the slog up the 21 bends of Alpe d'Huez (and then completely unnecessarily continuing up a further vertical 250 metres along a goat's track to summit the Col de Sarenne).  This will not be pretty and with the improbable Gold Award for competitors set at over 9 hours (I have not won a gold award since swimming when I was 10 - the 'Silver' Award is a frightening 11 hours) it promises to be a near death experience.

Raising money for a cancer charity needs little explanation. The work of the Institute, however, is less well-known. The Institute provides state of the art facilities undertaking life saving research across a number of cancer types.  NLP assisted the Trust in securing planning permission for the new Informatics Centre -  a facility designed to help us understand the genetic basis of cancer to inform the best treatment for that specific individual, offering the potential to deliver a step-change in the standard of cancer care treatment. The UCL Cancer Institute Research Trust is one of NLP's selected beneficiary charities during its 50th Birthday year.  

Thank you for any support you can give.