Spaceway’s big-hearted head of marketing, Gary Trudgett, is set to take on the biggest physical challenge of his life as he prepares to cycle 145 miles in just two days for charity.
Gary’s epic challenge, organised by Prostate Cancer UK, will start at the Olympic Stadium in London on June 3, 2016 and finish at the Ajax Arena in Amsterdam the next day, just one week before Euro 2016 kicks off.
Dubbed ‘the biggest ride in football’, the 145 mile pilgrimage is endorsed and supported by both The Football League and the LMA (League Managers Association), with 400 riders participating representing both Football League and Premier League clubs including football legends and former England internationals Terry Butcher and Viv Anderson.
Gary, an integral part of the Spaceway team and avid AFC Bournemouth fan, was thrilled to be selected as a rider for the ‘Men Utd Football to Amsterdam Bike Ride’ and has set himself a personal sponsorship target of £1,000 to raise for the charity.
Gary said: “All support, no matter how large or small, will incentivise and motivate me hugely to continue my intense and long training schedule over the next 150 days. The whole Spaceway team has been immensely supportive.”
Head of marketing Gary, who only discovered the joys of road cycling just two years ago, is set to cycle 82 miles from East London to Harwich on day one and 63 miles from the Hook of Holland to the Ajax Arena in Amsterdam on day two.
Gary is no stranger to taking part in epic challenges and commenting on the long road that lies ahead of him said: “Making a marketing noise is what I do best. My proudest achievement so far has been being part of the team and driving awareness for the Benali Big Run event in 2014/15.
“This was a real highlight for me and involved Southampton Football Club legend Franny Benali running to every Premier league ground in 21 days, which amounted to nearly 1,000 miles and raised over £250,000 for Cancer Research UK.
“That experience spurred me on to do more and for this challenge, I have set-up a JustGiving donation page, as well as creating both a blog and Facebook page that will document, update and track my progress during the training and build up.”
Keep up with Gary’s progress on his personal blog here and donate to his mammoth challenge here.