£1150 raised for company Charity of the Year in 230 mile cycle challenge
Two Novacroft team members joined the Northampton Hope Centre’s Ride for Hope, in aid of Novacroft’s Charity of the Year, the Northampton Hope Centre, from 6th – 9th July, raising £1150 between them to date – a huge contribution to the £30,000 (and counting) raised by all the Ride for Hope cyclists to date.
Novacroft’s Duncan Smith, 2nd/3rd Line IT Analyst, and Daryl Hurst, Head of Research and Development, took on the epic cycling challenge to complete personal goals and to raise money and awareness for the Northampton Hope Centre.
The cycle took the Novacroft pair 70 – 80 miles per day over a total of 230 miles, through country, city and coastal terrain to the finish line. Daryl and Duncan joined the Ride for Hope as part of a group of forty six cyclists of all abilities, and have already achieved their aim to improve on the amazing £25,000 total raised by twenty-eight cyclists who took on the challenge in 2016. With over £30,000 raised to date, the cyclists hope to reach £40,000 by the time all donations are in.
Duncan has been with Novacroft since 2011. He regularly cycles to work, has completed many medium distance rides and has wanted to take on a long-distance cycle challenge for some time.
Daryl, who’s been with us for 15 years, began cycling in earnest last year, when he ran out of places to run. Daryl regularly rides to the office, as well as cycling many miles outside of work – a fifty mile afternoon jaunt is not unusual! Speaking after the ride, Daryl said:
What an amazing experience. Three days full of laughs, emotion and great memories, with a few uphill struggles, literally! And we only got lost a few times! Would I do it again? Yes!
For both Daryl and Duncan, a road bike has been a new challenge, but the Ride for Hope training rides provided a real team spirit and support that saw them through. Duncan said, after completing the ride:
I got such a massive sense of achievement. It was brilliant. I’m already thinking about my next challenge – I’d love to be able to do a hundred mile ride in a day.
Duncan and Daryl’s fundraising pages are still open. If you’d like to add your support, you can access Daryl’s JustGiving page here and Duncan’s JustGiving page here.
