Rob Smith
Ending violence against women and girls by handcycle
Fundraising for the nia project
Story
Handcycle distance challenges raising money to end violence against women and girls!
#HellOnAHandbike
I'm a 52 year old disabled man doing wheelchair events and challenges to raise money for @nia_endingVAWG, a charity run by women for women who are survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Over the past view years I've done:
* Well over a dozen wheelchair half marathons all around the UK
* 2000 wheelchair miles in a year
* A virtual trip to Mordor in a wheelchair (1815 miles in about 4 months)
So far, I've raised about £10,000 for the charity.
I'm always looking to push myself harder (and raise more money) so I've bought myself a handcycle. This is like a normal recumbent bike, except you pedal it with your hands. It's a completely different action to pushing a wheelchair, but it opens up a lot of new opportunities. It's going to take some getting used to.
In the new year, I'll be setting myself a range of increasingly foolish distance challenges on the handcycle, yet to be finalised.
Watch this space and for the hashtag #HellOnAHandbike on Twitter/X for challenges and announcements in the new year!
Nia has been fighting violence against women and girls since 1975. We support around 2000 women/year across a range of services including prostitution exiting, rape crisis, domestic violence and play therapy. We deliver frontline services to women and undertake research. Increasingly we need to advocate for women to try to ensure that they can access rights, justice and support and we achieve more together than alone.