A PETERSFIELD woman has raised more than £2,300 for the town’s youth centre by cycling 54 miles from London to Brighton on one of the hottest days of the year.
Claire Pilkington, of Montague Gardens, wants to thank Post readers who may have helped her reach her grand total.
She said: “I am donating the money to the King’s Arms youth club in Petersfield, and I had a lot of anonymous donors,
“I think they must be Post readers, so I would like to thank them very much for their kind and generous donations, and the Post for promoting my having a go at the challenge.”
Clare (60) hadn’t ridden a bike for many years, when she pledged to join almost 27,000 other cyclists attempting the annual fundraising ride, which sees entry fees go to the British Heart Foundation.
She said: “I had some panic attacks while training, but on the day it was fine.
“The ride went ahead on one of the hottest days of the year, it was 32 degrees, but despite the heat the atmosphere was amazing.”
She rode with a younger relative, and it took them six and a half hours to finish.
But Clare says she was just happy to complete what is now the longest running charity cycling event in Europe.
Clare, a volunteer at the King’s Arms, added: “The time wasn’t a record or anything, but I was happy. There weren’t any real tough bits until the end, there is a huge hill as you enter Brighton, which was a killer.”
But despite enjoying the ride on June 18, and finishing it uninjured and relatively pain free, Clare says her days of fundraising challenges could well be over and done with.
She said: “That’s it now I think, the training wasn’t fun, and I’m fairly certain that’ll be the last charity challenge I do.”