FUND RAISING

 

OST London to Brighton Report

 

On Sunday 16th June, a group of 18 cycling-enthusiasts ventured to Clapham Common for the 2013 London-Brighton bike ride. The day began with a pre-5:00 am wake-up call and the majority of riders congregated at Calthorpe Park School to load the bikes into the hired van and to get onto the minibus to Clapham for our scheduled 7:30am start

By the time the team had arrived in Clapham and were set up to begin it was just after 8:00 am, this was still however over an hour earlier than last year, with the hope to leave Brighton before dark this year!

 

cyclists attempting to compete with London traffic, but also the sheer amount of cyclists participating, estimated at 28,500, undoubtedly meant initial slow progress. This was naturally a little frustrating, but perhaps it’s a good way to ease the cyclists into the challenges ahead!

 

Part of the attraction of the ride is all the numerous rest stops along the route, which transcend through quaint villages in rural areas to larger towns, yet for this special day the locals come out in force to cheer the cyclists and offer a wide variety of refreshments, which the majority gladly consume. It is this sense of a community atmosphere that marks the London to Brighton bike ride out and is surely a reason why it regularly has such a high number of participants.

 

The OST riders all went off at differing paces, but the challenge of the infamous Ditchling Beacon remained an inevitability, with some managing to cycle the 1 mile-long assent but it is certainly no mean feat to walk up the hill (known as the Sussex Everest), which is arguably more strenuous for the body!

 

After Ditchling begins the 7 miles descent into Brighton, which for the earlier riders was managed relatively quickly, however a few notable crashes from other riders, considerably delayed some OST riders by up to an hour and a half.

 

However all of the OST cyclists arrived safe and sound, if a little achey, with a united sense of achievement and relief. The earliest OST riders arrived at 14:00 with the last arriving at 17:30, so a very commendable effort from the whole team.

 

We were so fortunate to have minimal rain despite the gloomy forecast and were lucky to arrive in Brighton to the sight of bright blue skies with the Sun’s glare off the sea, which only added to feelings of euphoria for completing the bike ride.

 

The OST team has successfully raised over the target of £1500 and should therefore be very proud not just of completing the ride but for the fact that the money raised will go along way to supporting the communities in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

 

Many of this years cyclists will be going to Sri Lanka this October to participate in the work of Ocean Stars Trust so I’m sure the amount of money raised will be put into context when they visit the various projects during their trip.Once again the London-Brighton bike ride has been a great success for OST in fundraising and a huge level of thanks has to go to all the cyclists involved. Who’s in for next year...?