JoGLE in Memory of Sdn Ldr Ant Downing

On the 22nd December 2011 Sdn Ldr Anthony Downing was seriously wounded when the vehicle he was travelling in was caught in an explosion south of Kabul. Ant was flown back to the UK where sadly he died of his wounds at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Ant was my brother, an exceptionally good man and an inspiration to so many, myself included. From an early age he tried to push himself to see what he was capable of. Whilst he was at school he competed in endurance events in running and cycling and as an adult went on to such feats as cycling across America in 25 days a number of Iron Man competitions and completed a Double Iron Man too.

At his funeral the idea of retracing his wheel tracks on a ride across the USA was talked over with many of Ant's friends. I said on a number of times I would like to give it a go. This ride however is not quite so ambitious; it is a training ride to see if I have it within me to cycle long distances. Ant completed the Lands End to John O' Groats trip on his own in 1999. The journey should be approximately 874 miles, hence the target for the fund-raising. My friend Chris Tremblett and I shall be doing the journey in September the other way around mainly due to logistical reasons.

We have been told on a number of occasions that going North to South is the awkward way to do it as we will be pedalling into the wind every day. However, Scotland is high up on the map and Cornwall is at the bottom so although it's a long way it will all be down hill. How hard can it be?


Very, I suspect...

Sunday 2 September 2012

T minus 13 days

More progress to report:

Chris has booked the bikes to be delivered to the Broo B&B at John O' Groats which we are staying in the night before the start. They'll be picked up from mine on the 7th for the princely sum of £30 each and will be delivered by a company called Paisley Freight to the B&B ready for us to assemble when we arrive.

I've also booked the train tickets for us from Inverness to Wick

A friend I know from motorbike trackdays owns a print company called Hello Blue and he will be printing us some flyers early next week. The very brave Helen Wright who cycled from Lands End to Dover last month solo on a tandem suggested it and also emailed me one of her flyers to blatantly copy...

Yesterday I was at the National Arboretum in Staffordshire where the service of dedication took place to remember and give thanks for those service personnel who lost their lives in 2011. Ant's name was etched in to the Portland stone alongside the thousands of others who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.


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