Cyclist to complete epic 3,500km Tour de France
A CYCLIST from Loughborough is preparing to take on an epic challenge - completing the whole gruelling Tour de France route.
Steve Faulkner, an exercise physiologist, triathlete, sports engineer and cycling scientist for Huub-Wattbike Test Team, is taking part in GT15 in June, when he will be riding the whole 3,500km of the Tour de France one day ahead of the pro race with the Geoff Thomas foundation to raise £1m for Cure Leukaemia.
Mr Faulkner is a former cancer patient and is aiming to raise at least £30,000.
The testing challenge will feature 21 amateur cyclists covering all 21 stages over a distance of 3,460km.
Mr Faulkner said: “The main reason that I’m doing the ride is to raise crucial money to help fund research into irradiating leukaemia and other blood cancers, like I suffered with at 16.
“It’s also an opportunity for me to show other people undergoing chemo, that it doesn’t have to be a death sentence, and that there can be life after cancer and that you can still achieve anything.
“It’s also a massive personal challenge for me, and I’ll be remembering my own dark times during treatment to help keep me going!”
On July 4, 2003, former England, Crystal Palace and Wolves footballer Geoff Thomas was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia and given just three months to live.
Thanks to treatment from Cure Leukaemia cofounder Professor Charlie Craddock CBE and a transplant from his sister, Geoff went into remission in 2005.
Inspired by Lance Armstrong’s book about his cancer battle, Geoff decided to take up cycling and rode the full Tour de France route, a day ahead of the professionals in 2005 just months after his remission was announced.
Fifteen years later he will once again take on this epic cycling challenge to raise funds to ensure more blood cancer patients can receive potentially life-saving treatments for the disease.
Geoff and his GT15 team aim to raise £1m for Cure Leukaemia to fund three world first clinical trials and staff at the globally significant Centre for Clinical Haematology in Birmingham, the hub of a national network of 12 centres which will be funded by Cure Leukaemia from January 2020.
For more details about the challenge visit https:// gt15.co.uk/