“I CONQUERED THE UK’S HIGHEST PEAKS – MY MUM WOULD HAVE BEEN PROUD”
Alistair Le Bas and his friend Simon Ward, climbed three of the UK’s highest peaks and cycled 650km between them to support leukaemia research
“WE’RE NOT CYCLISTS BUT WANTED A CHALLENGE THAT WOULD MEAN US BOTH BEING AT OUR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL LIMITS”
“My motivation for this challenge was my mum.
I told her when she was ill that I was going to embark on this challenge to raise awareness for her disease. She looked at me oddly as I had never really cycled in my life.”
“Simon’s daughter lives with type 1 diabetes so he wanted to raise awareness for that too. We wanted a challenge that would mean us both being at our physical and mental limits – but that we would hopefully push through no matter how much it hurt, as our pain couldn’t compare to what my mum went through or what Simon’s daughter faces on a daily basis.”
“Simon and I discussed various options. I suggested walking the Three Peaks via ridge routes. We then said, ‘Wouldn’t it be stupid to cycle between them?’ and we looked at each other and realised it would actually be amazing.”
“We don’t ride with a club or anything and only started training properly in November 2021, doing daily 30km rides with the occasional longer haul thrown in. But in training we only did three or four 100km stints leading up to the event.”
“To do seven days of 100km on the trot with climbs thrown in was the challenge you’d expect. Some days were hybrid and included going on off-road shortcuts.”
“We started at Ben Nevis and cycled to Glenridding in the Lakes, before climbing Helvellyn via Striding Edge. We then cycled to Snowdon via the Horseshoe, encompassing the knife-edge ridge that is Crib Goch.”
“We both did the ride on Giant Revolt gravel bikes which were awesome. Part of the route took us through Glasgow and Hamilton. We had encounters with dogs chasing us and lots of hazards in the city to watch out for but still we were smiling. A two-hour puncture repair was the only downside.”
“It felt amazing – such an achievement for non-cyclists but it definitely converted us to a certain point. In total we did 650km on the bikes, trekked 50km and climbed (off bikes) 3,500m. We smashed our fundraising target by 244%.”
“I’m sure mum would have been proud, but still surprised by my cycling efforts. Next Simon and I are planning on cycling to the Matterhorn in the Alps next year and then climbing the 5,000m peak.”
Visit Alistair’s fundraising page at: justgiving.com/fundraising/ Alistair-Le-Bas