Team Landmark take part in the Ride for Ryder challenge

A team of seven of us here at Landmark took part in the Ride for Ryder challenge on Sunday 11th May 2014. The challenge, now in its eight year, organised by the charity Sue Ryder who provide hospice and neurological care to people with life changing illnesses, started and finished at the Nettlebed hospice in Oxfordshire.

The charity raise funds to help continue and provide care for patients living with incurable illnesses with every £100 funding the cost of a nurse for a 7 hour day shift to provide care and support for patients and their families across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Overall, roughly 350 people took part in the challenge, up from 100 taking part last year, with three routes winding through the Chiltern Hills to choose from. Carole Ankers, Product Development Director, Marc Littlefair, Technical Support Manager, Matt Dellowe, Development Support Manager, Lisa Middleton, Marketing Executive, Nick Capek, Product Manager, Julian Bedford, Development Team Leader and Nicola Ellis chose to ride the 25 mile course and Ian Clarke, Chief Technology Officer, the 60 mile course. Together raising £1,115 for the charity which Landmark have pledged to match.

The weather on the day was not especially kind, with strong cross winds and the threat of downpour making each mile seem that much harder, but everyone was in good spirits and proud to be supporting a cause close to their hearts. One member of our team, Nick Capek, completed the 25 mile course on his childhood BMX from 1984, in memory of his Nan who spent time in the Sue Ryder home. Two members of the team (myself being one!) ended up off course and completing significantly more than the required 25 miles!

For me, I only very recently took up cycling – the last time I was on a road bike was probably as a child, other than that the odd (and boring) spin class in the gym. I bought a bike about a month ago and when the email came around asking if anyone would be interested in joining the team I thought it would be a great idea and I’d give myself a challenge to work towards, with the bonus of raising money for a worthwhile cause in the process. Never having done a cycling event before, it was daunting but I had already done a ride of 25 miles to prepare so I knew I could cover the distance. What I hadn’t prepared for was the strong winds coupled with large hills and a wrong turn, sapping my energy and making what should have been an enjoyable ride seem like an epic 32 mile marathon -finishing in 2 hours 44 mins. Not bad for a beginner….. maybe 60 miles next year!?

Overall, the winning times for each course were:

·         10 miles      00.55.07

·         25 miles      01.53.47

·         60 miles      03.36.09

Landmark continues to support our two nominated charities, Sue Ryder and MapAction, as well as backing the efforts of our staff in their own worthy charities and community causes. During our last financial year Landmarkers raised over £15,000 (Landmark charity matched over £7,500) for a range of charities including: Comic Relief, Coppafeel Charity for Breast Cancer, WaterAid, European Disaster Volunteers and the Brain Tumour Charity. We promote healthy living through a range of initiatives and with National Cycling week coming up in June and our continued support of Jessica Varnish, the most promising young talent of the British Track Cycling team we are looking forward to seeing what else we will be taking part in.

Lisa Middleton
Marketing Executive