Teenagers take on 600-mile charity challenge

Four teenagers who fancied a trip to the Rowing World Championships have decided to travel to the venue by bike, a mere 600-miles journey.

The group are all members of Sudbury Rowing Club and have decided to tackle the 600-mile cycle ride to raise money for Breast Cancer Care.

Leaving on Tuesday, the teenagers are already two days into their mammoth journey to Aiguebelette-le-lac in the south-east of France.

Tom Bowles, 18, came up with the idea when trying to think of a way to support people living with breast cancer, knowing someone who had recently been diagnosed.

Both Tom and his sister Amy Bowles, 16, had tickets to the World Championships and decided to take on the challenge, joined by Keiran Dibley, 18, and Victoria Burgess, 17.

The keen rowers had originally given themselves a £600 fundraising target but this was met early on, with a revised £1,000 target achieved before the group had even put their feet in their pedals, the total already past £1,250.

At the recent Sudbury Regatta the group raised £200 on their stall as well as £150 on a cake stall.

Amy, a pupil at Hedingham School said: “Its such a common disease and lots of fundraising goes to finding a cure but we felt like not enough is done to support the people who have already been diagnosed.”

Planning to ride 60 miles a day, the teenagers will ride through Paris, Orleans and Lyon, staying at campsites and youth hostels on the way, having to carry all their equipment and food with them.

They have been training throughout South Suffolk, taking on regular 40-mile rides.

Tom said: “It looks an absolutely ridiculous distance on the map – we are going from the top left of France to the bottom right.”

Amy added: “My mum was really scared about it at first and thought we were joking but our parents feel better about it now they can see the organisation we have put in.”

You can donate by visiting justgiving.com/southoffrancecycle or by texting FRNC60 £10 to 70070 to donate £10.