TEN LADS AND A LADY ARE BIKING FOR A LIFE

02 August 2022

AB Sundecks owners, Derek and Laura Beaumont, will again be embarking on a gruelling bike ride with friends to raise much needed funds for a children’s charity.

Last year they rode 142 miles to Newcastle for the Super League Magic Weekend fixture Leigh Centurions versus Hull KR, arriving in under 14 hours, covering 9000ft of climb and raising more than £35,000 in aid of Cancer Research.

This time round they are embarking on a two-day journey to the capital for the clubs’ fixture with London Broncos on the 4th September. This will see them ride 208 miles over Saturday and Sunday to arrive ahead of kick off in aid of the Hull based charity, Life for a Kid.

The husband-and-wife team will be joined on the challenge by past rugby league players and coaches Neil Jukes and John Duffy as well as past player Sean Richardson. Dean Williams, the partner of Leigh Centurions board member Gill Wood, has recently taken up cycling to participate in the challenge. In addition, Derek’s brother, Brian Beaumont along with personal friends Simon Turtington, Andy Sharrock, Jimmy O’Dwyer and Chris Airey, who all completed the Newcastle challenge, make up the group of eleven that will take on this massive feat.

Derek commented, “During these difficult times it is hard to raise money for charity and with so many people undertaking unbelievable challenges for fantastic causes it makes it even more difficult, everybody can’t support them all. We wanted to change the charity this year and obviously had to come up with a challenge that would prove more difficult than the last. Sean Richardson proposed the Life for a Kid Charity and myself and Laura were keen on this. When Life for A Kid was then proposed to the group everybody agreed because of the fantastic work they do and the support it offers to children and their families.
Everybody is now in training and with new cyclists, John Duffy and Dean Williams not having completed a challenge, they are working extra hard with altitude chamber spin sessions and sprint rides with some of us who have done it before. The training is about to step up with some endurance rides in preparation for what happens to the body when you’re on a bike for long hours as its not only the rear that needs taking care of! We are all heading into unknown territory as none of us have cycled 150 miles in a day and then to back it up the following morning with a further 60 will be a big challenge”

The group are looking for sponsors to go onto the shirts that they will cycle in and sponsors to have their logos on the support vehicles and throughout the whole media campaign for the challenge. The riders are also looking for individual sponsors, all of which will go completely to the charity.

Derek continued, “A key component of achieving such a challenge is the support around it which obviously costs money for those logistics, but those costs are being met by AB Sundecks. The riders are also paying for their own accommodation so all proceeds will benefit the charity directly”

Anyone wishing to support by way of sponsorship can do so by contacting Laura Beaumont Laura@absundecks.co.uk or Gill Wood gill@leighrl.co.uk and donations can also be made to the Ten Lads and A Lady just giving page www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Bike4ALife

Details of the charity life for a kid can be found here www.lifeforakid.com