FOR most people, the days between Christmas and New Year are a chance to recover from the festivities and recharge the batteries.
But, for Shipston Cycling Club (SCC) member Robin Hughes, quite the opposite was true.
Just before 3.30am on December 28 Robin set out from his home with the aim of completing the Rapha Festive 500 challenge within 24 hours.
The Festive 500 is undertaken by cyclists across the world – although usually with the more realistic timescale of completing 500km in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
On setting himself the goal of 24 hours, Robin said: “I wanted a challenge to send the year off, this seemed like a good option and an excellent way of raising some money for charity.”
Robin took on the challenge in aid of local charity Cyclists Fighting Cancer and set himself an initial target of £500 – one pound for every kilometre raised.
To date, the fund-raising total stands at more than £1,500.
The first 80 miles were ridden in torrential rain. Robin added: “It was very cold, hard to see and a little dangerous – I thought we would have to cancel the ride before the sun had risen.
“At the other end of the day, the sunset wasn’t very nice as heading back into the dark for nine hours didn’t seem very fun. It wasn’t!”
However, support from friends, family and other SCC members helped Robin through the daylight hours.
“Every time we saw someone waving by the side of the road it was a great boost for morale. Also any time we stopped and we could eat lots of food!”
Robin completed the challenge after just over 17.5 hours in the saddle – meaning he finally climbed off his bike at around 1.45am the following day on December 29.
SCC chairman Andy Smith said: “We’re all really proud of Robin’s achievement.
“Our regular Sunday club rides are mostly done by lunchtime, so to cycle almost round the clock on one of the shortest days of the year is a phenomenal feat of fitness and determination”
Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Robin-Hughes5 to donate to Robin’s cause.
