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August 2013: EFA President Rides London To Raise Money For Cambridge Courts

EFA President Richard Barber successfully completed the 100 mile RideLondon bike ride last weekend, raising money for the new Cambridge University courts in the process.


Well, I made it! I'm really not quite sure how, and there were moments on the hills when (like many of my friends) I doubted my sanity in even trying. But I thought "if Boris can do it, so can I. " - and actually I finished in a better time than I had expected.

The 102 miles from the Olympic Park round the Surrey Hills to finish on the Mall took me 7½ hours to accomplish (against the 9 allotted) and fortunately I had no punctures (many did), no accidents (there were several along the way) and throughout the day the weather was absolutely perfect for such an event. The crowds supported us vociferously all along the route and 20,000 cyclists created an atmosphere that carried everyone along. The organisation to marshal so many people from the starting point and throughout the day was impeccable.

The toughest point was the steepest part of the straight ascent up Leith Hill (the highest point in Surrey) for which all the training just about paid off, and the best sights were from the top of Box Hill and of course riding up Whitehall with huge crowds of people (including my family) cheering and waving banners with the end finally coming into sight.

At the finish one of my team had provided a crate of beer for us in Green Park, an inspired idea, and here are a couple of photographs of me in Richmond Park near the beginning and with some of the team at the end: pretty tired, somewhat sore, happy to have completed the course with medals to prove we did it – and full of beer!

My sincere thanks to everyone who supported me so generously, helping me to contribute over £1,000 so far to the Cambridge courts fund. And thank you too for all your enthusiasm – even from those who thought I was mad to even contemplate it! - throughout these last frantic months (I think I rode the equivalent of Land’s End to John O’Groats in training).

As I promised everyone at the outset, this will definitely have been my Last Hurrah – as our great gymnast Beth Tweddle said yesterday when announcing her retirement,” I no longer have the time or inclination for the training required to remain at the top!”

So that’s it - NEVER AGAIN!

Thanks again to everyone for your support