Cyclists to take on bank holiday weekend challenge of riding from Sydney to Northampton Hope Centre

Earlier this month around 180 people took part in a virtual ride from The Hope Centre to Sydney over the course of a week, by using their daily exercise and virtually logging their miles.

The ride, sponsored by local pastry company Pidy, raised £2,000 and was a huge success.

As another bank holiday weekend approaches, the return ride from Sydney to The Hope Centre is now being planned.

Organiser and managing director of Pidy, Robert Whittle said: “We were supposed to do a one-day challenge ride in Salcey Forest at the beginning of May, but that was cancelled and I thought there must be a virtual way we can do it.

“So we planned to cycle from Oasis House to the Empire State Building and we thought we’d just about make it over there.

“But we had so many people involved that we did it in two days. We extended it and ended up cycling 25,000km around the globe as a group and ending in Sydney.”

Next weekend (May 23 to May 25), the plan is to cycle back to Northampton from Sydney, but the challenge this time will include completing a 15,000km journey in just three days, so Robert needs around 30 or 40 more cyclists to get involved in order to make sure the group makes it back to blighty.

He added: “Everybody really enjoyed doing it last time.

“It’s a great way to use our lockdown exercise and a way to give The Hope Centre a bit of exposure as well as the plight they support to help others in our community.”

The ride cost £5 per person to enter and cyclists will be kept up to date with how far the group has travelled.

Find out more information and sign up on The Hope Centre’s website.And if clocking up miles on your bike is not your idea of fun, The Hope Centre has another fundraising event taking place over the bank holiday weekend.

The charity is hosting another Big Sleep In, where people sleep somewhere at home that is less comfortable then their bed, to raise awareness of homelessness and much-needed funds.

Find out more about the Big Sleep In here.

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