Cycling 100 miles for Action Medical Research4

Help me raise cash for Action Medical Research this summer – I’m cycling 100 miles on the Castle 100 Ride around Kent for this great cause on Sunday, 17 May.

The charity
Action Medical Research specialises in children’s health, tackling problems affecting pregnancy, childbirth, babies, children and adolescents.

The charity’s research funding currently focuses on three crucial areas:

• giving babies a better start – tackling life-threatening pregnancy complications, finding ways to reduce premature birth and improve care for sick babies.
• stopping suffering in children – serious childhood conditions, many of which originate at birth, as well as projects to improve the quality of life for children with disabilities, and those that tackle the causes of both rare and common childhood conditions.
• improving health for all – looking for new treatments that could benefit both the young and the old. For example, funding research into conditions that cause blindness, and chronic conditions like inflammatory bowel disease which cause pain and misery for thousands of people.

The charity’s previous research has led to healthcare innovations that have touched the lives of many of us – I certainly wasn’t aware of Action Medical Research’s role in funding research that led to many of the healthcare services we take for granted today. These include ultrasound in pregnancy, the polio vaccine and the hip replacement operation.

Check out this page for more information about the charity’s achievements.

The challenge
A 100-mile circular road ride which starts and finishes at Tonbridge Castle in Kent on Sunday 17 May 2009.

The countryside route, through the ‘Garden of England’, takes in some of Kent’s wonderful castles and sections of the Pilgrim’s Way:

The furthest I ever cycled was the London to Brighton charity ride in 2006 – and that was around 56 miles, so 100 miles is a real challenge.

Raising money

I’m aiming to raise at least £250 for this great charity from my ride.

So I’d ask if you find my content on this site useful, you consider sponsoring me on the ride to help me raise money for Action Medical Research.

You can sponsor me online at www.action.org.uk/sponsor/simonwakeman.