6 students took on the challenge to fundraise for charity.
Some of us would have to stop cycling after ten minutes - but could you keep going for an hour? How about a full 24 hours?
That was the mission that six Christ Church students took on in order to raise money for charity.
24 hours. On a bike. Crazy.
Christina Dickens came up with the idea, “we went into it really positive thinking it would be really great, but we got halfway and thought we wouldn’t be able to finish. We were so tired we couldn’t even string a sentence together”.
The team (from left to right in the picture: Harry Braddick, Jasmine Callaghan, Matt Mault, Hannah Green, Charlotte Williams and Christina Dickens) agreed that staying awake was the hardest part - not the cycling. One said, “we were trying pace ourselves and took shifts (1 hour on, 1 hour off) - but in 24 hours I don’t think any of us slept for more than 4 hours - Harry didn’t sleep at all. The cycling just becomes automatic after a while”.
Music and watching films helped the group stay awake, and lots of their housemates and friends came to support the group throughout their challenge.
“They were all so lovely bringing us food, giving us massages and jumping on the bikes for a little bit - they distracted us from the cycling which made it easier” said Jasmine.
One friend, Robert Goodhew, supported the group for 6 hours, and during that evening’s Final Whistle had the rest of his American Football team jump on to help out.
The group said that doing the challenge on the same night as Final Whistle was a significant help when it came to donations. Sports teams would regularly come out and support them - even if it was just standing in the doorway to let a breeze through or cycling for ten minutes.
Some of the team trained in preparation for the challenge, “we did high intensity exercise, cycling for hours at a time, taking spin and stamina classes and practising staying awake”.
Christina said, “my friend runs marathons and they told me to drink beetroot juice to stop my muscles hurting - and I think it worked”.
Hannah said, “There were no major injuries. Matt hurt his knee and couldn’t continue, but our bums hurt the most - and now our wrists hurt from holding ourselves up to save our bums!”
When the challenge was over, Christina said “Overall it was a great experience and I’d probably do it again as a charity event. It shows my determination and is a great thing that I’ve achieved”.
Congratulations to the whole team - next stop, Uganda!
The group managed to raise £215.78 for their trips to Uganda with charity, East African Playgrounds. While in Uganda, they will work with communities to transform an empty field into a playground for children so they have somewhere safe to learn and play. Find out more http://eastafricanplaygrounds.org/.
More fundraisers are happening soon including a karaoke night.