Businessman is a London Classics medal winner
JONNY Singleton says he is not a regular cyclist, yet he completed the Ride100 London bike race in seven hours, raising money for charity in the process.
Along with around 25,000 other riders he took to the road on Sunday, May 29 to ride the 100 miles from central London to Essex.
He has already raised almost £1,500 for charity Wings For Life which supports cutting edge treatments for spinal cord injuries.
“I’m busy, but I still like to find time to do silly things,” Mr Singleton said.
“I was only able to practise with eight mile rides, so the 100 miles was a bit of a shock.
“At around 40 miles, I did find myself thinking, why do I do this?
“But I’m delighted I did, and pleased I finished.
“And I actually didn’t feel too bad afterwards.”
Mr Singleton chose to raise money for the Wings Spinal
Cord Injury charity because of the support it offered his friend.
“Philip was climbing a ladder to store a box of tiles when he fell,” said Mr Singleton.
“One of the tiles hit the side of his neck and left him paralysed.
“Wings For Life enabled Philip to receive unique surgery that has really helped, improving his speech and giving him better use of his right arm.
“When the ride got tough, I just remembered Phil, and that drove me on.”
Mr Singleton is no stranger to surgery himself, having required titanium inserts to his own neck vertebrae in 2013.
“It means I can’t do a huge number of press ups, but you just find different exercises to do,” he said.
To qualify for The London
Classics participants need to have competed not only in the Ride100 cycle race, but also The London Marathon and the two mile Serpentine Swim.
Jonny Singleton has completed all three, just before his 60th birthday.
He completed the London Marathon twice, in 2007 and 2008, raising a total of £5,000 for charity Refuge.
“I was inspired then to compete by my inspirational boss and mentor, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“Sadly, Mark passed away in 2007, but I ran the marathon with his picture on my shirt.”
Mr Singleton completed the two mile Serpentine Swim in 2021.
He then raised £3,500 for Alzheimers Research UK, swimming in freezing water and with a borrowed wetsuit.
“I trained in an indoor pool, and had never swum outdoors, so I was in for a shock,” he remembers.
The London Classics was created in 2017 to celebrate participants of all three of London’s toughest challenges.
Everyone who competes receives a London Classics medal with the inscription Et ego Londinium vici (I, too, have conquered London) and is listed in the Hall of Fame.
“To be honest, I didn’t know there was a London Classics, but I’m very pleased and proud to have completed it,” said Mr Singleton.