Epic French adventure for men's hockey

Earlier this year members of the Leeds Met hockey club swapped their sticks for bikes to complete at 220 mile challenge to France to raise money for charity.

Sam Roberts reports on what was an arduous but rewarding ride.

On Friday 26th March 2010, members of Leeds Met Uni Men's Hockey Club began their 3 day charity bike ride from Canterbury to Paris for a special charity 'Help for Heroes'. The route would begin at Canterbury Cathedral at 7am, a 20 mile ride to Dover, a 2.5 hour crossing to Dunquerque and then many miles through Northern France, where so many lost their lives in the War. We hoped to arrive in Paris around Monday afternoon.
 
The party consisted of 12 men, cyclists and drivers, planning and preparations took months, however once in France it was truly the unknown.

The first day was an incredibly early start and a hugely exciting prospect. All of the lads successfully completed the initial stage of the trip, arriving in Dover at about 9am with most of them thriving on adrenaline.

The ferry crossing passed but took 3 hours out of the days cycling which meant a huge distance would have to be covered before darkness would fall. After a premature stop in terms of miles due to lack of light, the guys turned in for the first night.

Day two was never going to be easy and it was made even more difficult by the clocks changing and the loss of an hours sleep. Tiredness was due to set in during this day but nothing was quite going to prepare the guys for the emotional journey that would happen on this day. A stop at around midday at the Somme memorial at Thiepval really brought the trip into perspective. Looking out over the fields, which 90 years previously would have been a war ground, was a humbling moment for them all.

After arriving at the campsite for the second night, you could really tell how exhausted some of the guys were. Everyone was asleep by 8pm and then the rain set in. Luckily, there had not been any real rain during the cycle and most of the cyclists were worried the final day would be marred by this rain. But when morning came, so did the clear skies.

A beautiful day ensured a fantastic final day. Despite there still being bouts of exhaustion setting in, adrenaline once again pushed them all through to a lunch break 18 miles outside the French capital. After a quick rejuvenation over lunch, the final leg began. It took us onto one of the busiest routes into Paris which was a stage we were all dreading. After being part of some very slow moving traffic, partly due the tiredness but also due to the roadworks, we passed through the suburbs and into the heart of the capital. The cyclists had now lost their support vehicles as the traffic held them up and the cycle routes allowed free movement for the cyclists.

The trip ended in a slightly anticlimactic way, however, upon arrival the cyclists were showered in Champagne and greeted by two additional Leeds Met students who had made the long trip to support them.

After almost 6 months of planning, the trip was over but to see the amount of money raised lift to £2000 whilst in Paris really made it all worthwhile.

We have currently raised just over £2500 and would love to reach £3000, please if you can spare anything follow the link to our Justgiving site