Since Jason was introduced to the Chapman family in 2010, he has always been up for any challenge that we throw at him!  The first one was a 100K cycle ride in Dordogne France, where we put him on an old mountain bike and asked him to keep up with us on our road bikes brought from Canada.  The second was the Etape du Tour in 2012, the hardest one on record.  The poor guy had only ever ridden his city bike to work and he completed it. 

When Jason told us that he was organising a cycling event in Annecy, France to raise money in support of the new Paul Bevan Centre, a cancer hospice, that his mother originally built in honour of his dad that died of cancer when Jason was 8.  We knew it was our time to complete a challenge that he put to us! 

And so, here we are 2 weeks away from the Big Mountain Challenge.  Much has changed since we signed up, Streis had a little boy this past July named Chester, Susan is still recovering from her knee replacement surgery, Ron has been spending more time at work than on his bike and Fras is still recovering from his most recent cycling event... 400KM in 1 day! 

That won’t stop us - Streis, Ron and Fraser are taking part in the Big Mountain Challenge on Sept 20-24 in Annecy, France and Nani Sue is going to take care of Chester while Streis is riding.  Fraser will be riding the equivalent of Everest (total ascent 8848m) over 3.5 days and Ron, and Streis will try to ride the equivalent of the Matterhorn (total ascent 4478m), through in the shape they are in, we will be honest and say we might not complete it but will give it a go!  

About the Big Mountain Challenge: 

In 1981, when Jason Bevan was 8, his father Paul Bevan was diagnosed with cancer, age 42 and died quickly.  At a time of extreme personal demands on every level, his mother Penny combined forces with Paul's close friend and local GP to sponsor Macmillan nurses to help others in the same plight. With strong need for its services, the resource grew steadily and within a few years had a large network of charity shops to fund the care. In 1995 the Paul Bevan Day Hospice was built in Ascot.

Now merged with another hospice as Thames Hospice, this amazing and highly reputed organisation is building a new £22M home by Bray lake near Windsor. Set to be Europe's best hospice with 28 inpatient private ensuite rooms, extensive day therapy and outpatient facilities (The Paul Bevan Centre) large hospice at home care team and education centre for other care organisations. Quality of care is genuinely exceptional and not surprisingly, demand is huge. Inspired by both his parents, Jason has remained committed to the hospice throughout his life with fundraising, public events, marketing consultancy and providing financial support. In response to the £6M appeal to help fund the new facility, Jason pulled close friends and family contacts together to create the Big Mountain Challenge. To date, the hospice still has a further £2M to raise, not to mention the £7M annual running costs. 

Please join us by supporting this great cause and wish us luck, as we will certainly need it. 

To find out more about the Big Mountain Challenge: https://www.thameshospice.org.uk/bigmountainchallenge