Four days to go as Redditch trio cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End - The Redditch Standard

Four days to go as Redditch trio cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End

Redditch Editorial 10th Sep, 2019   0

THREE Redditch friends are cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End to raise funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital, writes Abi Cook.

Aaron Atkinson, Jamie Phelan and Mitchell Ferris are doing the 933 mile trip in nine days to help sick children at the Second City centre of excellence.

The journey began on September 2, they’re currently crossing the Pennines, and is set to finish in four days time at Land’s End this Saturday, September 14.

The idea came about 18 months ago when Aaron decided he wanted to challenge himself, managing to persuade his two friends to join him.




All three had seen first hand the care the hospital has provided, so there was no doubt it would be their chosen charity.

This was brought home to them even more when the daughter of one of the trio needed an emergency operation after being rushed to the hospital.


To add to the experience none of the three had any previous long distance cycling experience so the task presented a huge challenge for all involved.

Jamie said: ‘We didn’t think anybody would take it seriously when we told them what we wanted to do so we are so proud to have raised so much money.

“When we first started training, two of us didn’t even have a bike!”

The lads have raised nearly double their £500 target and money is still being donated via their Just Giving page.

Support driver Billy Ferris said: “Everybody is just so proud of them.

“They’re all starting to get tired now but they have worked so hard.”

The team are averaging around 100 miles a day which takes them about 12 hours and have their eyes fixed firmly on Land’s End.

Donations can still be made via their ‘Wheel and a Prayer’ at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wheelanaprayer

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