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...

Monday 10 September 2012

T Minus 5 Days

There has been progress on the publicity front today as I have spoken to a journalist about getting a news item put into the Plymouth Herald, hopefully this will bear fruit. The wonderful Joe Kilkenny suggested contacting our local paper and has mailed someone she knows at the RAFBF to ask if they could do the same with the Inverness local paper too. The Inverness paper ran a big article after the announcement that Ant had been killed mainly due to the considerable part Ant had played in the Kinloss mountain rescue team.

The RAFBF have sent Chris and I two rather dashing T shirts too which no doubt we will be sporting on the ride. Our resident photographer Mag will inevitably take some pictures of us sporting these shirts just so if you see us out and about you can say "I recognise that chap with the small pillow up his shirt and the other lad with the rubbish beard". Thank you Gemma.

Chris was hard at work yesterday and has finally planned the route we will take (apart from the bits when we get lost) the length of Blighty. You can find it here and I have to say that after looking at all 962 miles of it I can confirm I am a tiny* bit scared.

We also may well have a twitter feed to bore entertain you with as we are cycling too. Watch this space!





* Lots. Very. Many. Gargantuan. Ohchristthisisgoingtohurt...
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2 comments:

  1. Vicki Gilbert11 September 2012 at 15:10

    Looking at your route, I wish for your sakes that they had built the A9 in a straighter line. Oh well, at least the big kinks are there because of the mountain ranges so loved by Ant :-)

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  2. Spike Downing11 September 2012 at 21:52

    I does seem to be almost spitefully meandering, doesn't it? I imagine it'll be amazing if the weather is nice and hellish if it's cold and drizzling.

    Will find out over the weekend I expect!

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