I am currently gearing up to take on the challenge of the 4th Insurance Industry Charity Bike Ride (“Raptor”), in aid of Action Medical Research. This year we are taking the ride to new heights, with a more challenging route than ever before taking us high into the Jura mountains in Switzerland. It’s going to be quite a step up from my local hills so I have been trying to build in plenty of preparation!

The ride is about supporting an amazing charity in Action Medical Research and I’m delighted that we have been able to expand the ride again - we’re expecting 80 riders from the Insurance market to join and support the incredible cause we are all supporting. This is a great example of our industry working together to make a difference, in this case for the great cause of helping children through funding medical research.

The heat, climbing and distance we have planned are all tougher than previous years so I’m trying to build up the miles steadily by building early morning commutes into my schedule as well as longer rides at the weekends. The next stage is to focus on climbing so it’s hill laps for June – not my favourite training but I think will be absolutely essential for Switzerland’s climbs (which are tougher than the Surrey hills!).

As you may well know, Action is a charity that's very close to my heart, with the incredible work they do really having an impact across the world. They're all about pushing for medical breakthroughs that can change children's lives for the better. I am a big fan of the diligent process they go through to select the research projects that have the best chance of success and that will really change lives (check it out here: https://action.org.uk/research/our-research-strategy) – working with leading researchers and emerging talent who otherwise wouldn’t be able to complete these research projects. I recently visited St Mary’s hospital to see the progress on a project researching peanut allergies and met some of the trial participants. It was really touching to see how much of a difference the research is making to them individually and also the potentially life-changing impact on the wider population who live with peanut allergies every day.

With my own experience of disability and illness in children, I know first-hand how important this research is, and how impactful it is on the lives of children and the families who support them. Our daughter lives with Downs Syndrome and was also diagnosed with Leukaemia as a baby, both of which were devastating diagnoses to hear. However, the research done in the preceding decade meant that she survived the leukaemia - an illness that would otherwise have resulted in her death. We are truly grateful for that progress but also experienced first-hand that so much more could be done to improve treatments, reduce side effects and make them more targeted. Our hope is to help future generations to achieve better outcomes for their children.

If you would like to help with the cause, please sponsor me at the following JustGiving page. If easier to donate directly, just let me know and we’ll add it to the pot. Any funds I raise will be DOUBLE MATCHED by Brit/Ki so we end up sending £3 to the charity for every £1 raised. I’ve kicked off with a personal donation and hope we can make a great contribution to the charity together.