Nigel Mansell, President of UK Youth is cycling 1100 miles in 13 days to promote our centenary campaign ‘Positive about Youth’.Launched by HRH the Princess Royal on 18 February, this campaign will seek to change perceptions by highlighting the contribution made by youth to society.
Starting from City Hall on 22 July Nigel intends to cover an average of 100 miles per day cycling as part of a team of ten. Riding with him will be his sons Leo and Greg, and three friends who were professional riders.Every day there will be four sponsored guest riders making up the team of ten.
To put the Cycle Challenge in perspective the Tour de France is 2200 miles and takes 20 days - with two day's rest at the halfway point. It's a real challenge for Nigel, his sons and the other riders so they are all fitting in lots of training alongside their day jobs. That includes practising with professional road race teams. It is not going to be and easy ride!
“This is UK Youth’s centenary year and I want to do something really challenging to mark it.” said Nigel.“We are the largest youth charity in the UK and every day we challenge young people to do all sorts of new and exciting things – so I want to do something demanding as well. Leo, Greg and I only started training in February so we’ve got a lot of hard work to put in.”
Wherever the riders stop for the night events will be organised in conjunction with Bike Club and other regional organisations which Nigel and the other cyclists will attend.Our aim is help the local youth organisations promote themselves as well as raising awareness of both UK Youth and its centenary campaign “Positive about Youth”.
Not content with promoting Positive about Youth we have added further dimensions: the Challenge must self-funding and must raise funds.We have set a fundraising target of £100,000.We aim to achieve this through a combination of donations and sponsorships from individuals and rider sponsorship.
Nigel, his sons Leo and Greg, and their friends: Magnus Backstedt - a Swedish ex professional cyclist and winner of the 2004 Paris Roubaix winner; Martin McCrossan and Ian Williams will make up the permanent core of the “Peloton”.They will be cycling at an average speed of 20 mph for up to eight hours a day.There are a few short “recovery” days linked to major events along the route.
If you would like to support Nigel Mansell’s cycle Challenge for Youth please visit our Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/ukyouth and sponsor them.You can sponsor them by the mile or with a fixed amount.
