Lawsons reaches Paris for charity

Builders and timber merchants Lawsons have taken part in a cycle ride to Paris to raise money for their chosen charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. It is part of a companywide initiative to raise enough cash to support a Macmillan nurse for a year.

The team was led by managing director Tony Munkley and comprised Rob Rice, Kevin O’Sulllivan, Ian Scrinmshaw, Andrew Elloway, Andrew Arnold, Dave George, Danny Lyrick, Sam Rowsell, Mike Kelly and Martyn Walter.

Munkley says that between their training and the actual ride, the team have cycled over 15,000 miles and burned over 800,000 calories this year. As a bonus, they’ve also lost over 15stone in weight between them.

“On Day one, we discovered that Calais was closed, we cycled on the hottest recorded day in nine years to Newhaven which is a far steeper ascent of over 4000 ft and then a 4 hour crossing to Dieppe arriving at our hotel at 1:30am. One of our team was also hit by a car resulting in a cracked pelvis and had to endure most of the trip in a van. Day two saw us getting up at 5:30am for a three hour coach trip to rejoin our route from Calais. Two hours of torrential rain followed by blistering heat made it a really comfortable ride.

“Day three was the longest leg of the trip at just over 87 miles on a very exposed route in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees. However there were some poignant moments when we visited the Thiepval War Memorial and took in amazing views over the Somme.

“Day four saw us hitting Paris; 85 Macmillan cyclists converged on the Arc de Triomphe and then down the Champs Elysee before seizing the Eiffel Tower. No matter how battle bruised we felt, all the pain became insignificant when one our fellow cyclists Mick told us that he put his name down for this ride eighteen months ago in memory of his brother who died ten years ago of cancer and then he himself was diagnosed with bowel cancer and had been receiving chemotherapy throughout the ride!

Sponsorship is still being accepted via the Lawsons’ JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/Lawsons-London-to-Paris