TWO students from Tean have completed an epic cycle ride across seven countries and 1,400 miles while so far raising more than £7,500 for charity.
Jason Mould and Tom Grocott set off from their home village on June 23 travelling through England, Holland, Germany, The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria, before completing the ride in Budapest, Hungary, 23 days later.
The two 21-year-olds have been raising money for Help for Heroes and the Donna Louise Children’s Hospice through the challenge and came up with the idea over a pint at their local — the Anchor Inn in Teanford, part of Tean.
Mr Mould spoke to the Advertiser after returning home from Hungary and said it had been a tough but rewarding trip.
“It was very tiring,” he said. “We were cycling for most of the day and camping on hard ground so we were aching quite badly but the rest days helped and once we passed half-way the days began to fly by.
“The hardest part was dealing with fatigue and pacing ourselves. I did most of my training in the Peak District which helped a lot when it came to the tougher parts, especially through the Czech mountains.
“It took 23 days and we managed to stick to our planned ride each day, although several days were longer than expected as we went off route but we managed to find our way back eventually.
“We had a lot of followers of our blog and messages from home, but we also met some great people along the way, most of them didn’t believe what we were doing. However, everyone that we met were very helpful.
“Austria was very tough but extremely rewarding — the landscape was breathtaking and it was extremely enjoyable riding through there.
“Budapest was the perfect place to end the journey as well and we had a great week celebrating there.” The intrepid duo have been raising money online and self-funded the trip through fundraising events prior to setting off.
They hope to raise £9,000 from the challenge and are well on their way to that target and said they are ‘ecstatic’ with the total so far but now need a final push.
Mr Mould said: “It’s been amazing how supportive everyone has been and the donations are still coming in and are more than welcome.
“Help for Heroes and Donna Louise do fantastic work and it’s great that everyone has got behind this ride to help the charities.
“Donations can still be made at www.virginmoneygiving.com/1400mileride”
