John Hewitt has revealed the latest charity cycling challenge that will see a dozen pedallers together cover 52,000 miles including Nevada’s legendary ‘Loneliest Road’ for the We Mind & Kelly Matters mental health charity.
The former Glazerite UK Group chairman, who founded the charity in memory of his late daughter Kelly, will lead the team on the month-long slog that will begin in Spain on World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10) and end, after crossing the USA coast-to-coast, on World Mental Health Day (October 10).
The event, sponsored by Veka Group, will also see the riders promoting the Time to Change #AskTwice mental health campaign along the route.
The team will also include John’s daughter and Kelly’s sister Amy as well as Sarah Ball of Balls 2 Marketing, DoorCo’s Dan Sullivan, and Peter Mew of Mews Windows. They will begin in Burgos, Veka’s base in Spain, travelling through France, where they will take on the world-famous Mont Ventoux, with the European leg ending at Veka Group HQ in Sendenhorst, Germany.
After crossing the pond, they will take on the epic Highway 50 east-west route from New York, to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Between them, they aim to clock up 52,000 miles – the equivalent of going around the world twice. Part of the route will includes the infamous ‘Loneliest Road in America’ in Nevada, after which John has chosen to name the challenge, also highlighting the lonely nature of mental health.
The epic fundraiser follows on from the charity’s 1000-mile journey from John O’Groats to Land’s End in 2020 when Kelly’s Heroes raised over £130,000 which has since helped the charity to roll out mental health support services such as counselling, support groups, and an online emotional support service for people living in Northamptonshire and beyond.
John said: “This year’s challenge sees us cycle part of Europe and right across America, with the European leg covering more than 1800 miles. The US leg covers four different time zones and crosses seven mountain ranges, which will see us climb 145,000 feet. It is a huge undertaking, and we are under no illusion as to how hard it will be, but we are determined to make this our biggest fundraising challenge to date.
“We are hugely grateful to Veka for supporting us and also taking part, and we are so excited to be starting and ending the European leg at two of their sites.”
Further support has come from others in the industry, including Bohle Ltd and Central Window Systems. John explained: “Dave Broxton from Bohle Ltd has been critical in the planning for both rides, which has been particularly challenging given the original route was meant to start on the Russian border. Gary Morton of Central Window Systems recently joined me for a recce of the USA route, which has equipped us with some useful insight. It also brings to reality the sheer scale of what we’re taking on!”
The Loneliest Road has some rider positions left. Anyone interested in taking part or would like to know how they can support Kelly’s Heroes’ Loneliest Road challenge, can visit WM&KM at Fit Show 2022, Stand C32 or watch https://youtu.be/12yI2dnozig
