24HR CYCLE CHALLENGE RAISES £50,000 FOR RACING WELFARE

The Great Racing Welfare Cycle Challenge took place from a base at the Rowley Mile racecourse and drew support from all corners of the racing industry as well as locally based businesses. Ten teams of four to eight people tackled 34km loops continuously from midday Saturday to midday Sunday, with two from each team on course at any one time. Overall, the cyclists completed an incredible total of around 12,000km across the course of the 24hr challenge.

At a time when demand for the charity’s services continues to grow, and funding becoming increasingly challenging, the event raised an incredible and much needed £50,000 with funds continuing to come in through cyclists’ fundraising pages.

Team 852 completed the most laps, clocking up an impressive 16 between them – even more impressive given they were a team of four from a possible eight, meaning more laps and less resting periods per individual. Their team consisted of Newmarket based assistant trainer Katie Margarson, Hong Kong based racing broadcaster and former groom to Kauto Star Nick Child, Charlie Longsdon work rider Will Biggart (who has previously completed two Racing Welfare Cycle Challenges) and sports nutritionist Oliver Whiteman.

Katie, who was helped by Racing Welfare to gain her PT qualification, personally covered 155 miles during the challenge on just two hours of sleep in between. She said: “I did an Ironman a couple of weeks ago which I wouldn’t recommend as prep for making sure you’re fresh and ready for this kind of thing – it’s pretty brutal! Physically I don’t feel too bad, it’s more the sleep deprivation that’s the hard part actually but it’s all for a hugely great cause. Racing Welfare do so much for this town and it’s hugely important.

“It was a fantastic weekend. Racing Welfare put on such a good event, really took care of us, The Jockey Club with the staff and the catering at the racecourse, it was phenomenal we didn’t want for anything.” 

Newmarket based trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy also fielded a team, having previously completed the Great Racing Welfare Cycle Challenge back in 2022 at Cheltenham. He said: “We’ve done Cheltenham two years ago so anything other than Cheltenham is pretty easy – you can’t compare to that! I haven’t done much training but we go our own pace without racing and it’s all for a good cause. Unfortunately, we lost an employee last summer and Racing Welfare was very supportive – I think Gemma Waterhouse was in the yard 30 minutes after anything happened and they’ve been great throughout. We’ve done the first fundraising at Cheltenham and it made sense to come back this year.”

Racing Welfare’s chief operating officer and Team Racing Welfare captain Gemma Waterhouse said: “What an incredible effort from all involved! It was really tough but everyone rallied round and created a brilliant atmosphere that kept us all going through the night and beyond. It was an amazing thing to be part of, and I’m so proud and grateful to all of our cyclists for their dedication to the cause and taking on such an immense challenge to raise vital funds for our charity. They all smashed it – we had great fun and the money raised will have a big impact. Racing Welfare is wholly reliant upon charitable donations so these fundraising events are so important for us to be able to continue providing our services to the industry’s people.

“Thanks must also go to our headline sponsor SW Turner, as well as Sharp Nutrition, Yu Tree, Bedford Lodge Hotel, Chestnut Group, Phoenix Cycle Works, Newmarket Equine Hospital, BBA Shipping, Rossdales, and The Jockey Club for kindly allowing us to use the racecourse as our base this weekend. Without their support this event simply wouldn’t have been possible.”

Donations are still open, so for those wishing to lend their support they can sponsor the cyclists by texting 2024CYCLE to 70470 to donate £10.

Racing Welfare has a full programme of events throughout the year. Entries are still open for two challenge events in September; The Great Racing Welfare Boat Race, which sees teams race Dragonboats down the Thames at Windsor racecourse, as well as the Jurassic Coast Challenge, a 20 mile hike across the stunning Dorset coastline from Durdle Door to Swanage. Go to www.racingwelfare.co.uk for further information and to sign up.