Recent News

The ride was in support of St Christophers Hospice, who have given outstanding support to Gill Macquarie, one of our much loved project managers, and her partner Greg, who was diagnosed with a Grade IV brain tumour, the day before Christmas eve 2010, as reported in the last newsletter.

Synergy riders Robert Ebdon, Declan Gleeson, Neil Walters and Gill Macquarie were joined by Tim Goodwin from Network Housing; Andy Mytom from David Morley Architects; Malcolm Clarke from Baxall Construction Ltd; Oluchi Uduku from Kings College London; and Mark Christodoulou, Head of Leisure in Islington and one of Synergy’s clients.

The route involved climbing hills, more hills and…you guessed it... more hills! With a few minutes of leaving the start the team were climbing Bury Hill and within 6 miles were climbing the steep escarpment up White Downs to reach Ranmore Common.  A slight navigational error saw Malcolm and Declan careering down Denbies Hill towards Dorking but Andy, our ‘King of the Mountains’ Etape L´Alpe d´Huez champion set off in hot pursuit to fetch ‘em back.  So a few extra miles cycled by those three.  After a hilly 13-mile loop they cycled back down the escarpment, trying to control their speed so they did not come to grief on the hair-pin bend! Once over the A25 the team cycled through some beautiful areas to Cranleigh and eventually a final major climb up Leith Hill and through Abinger Forest back to the start – phew!

Thanks to an on-bike computer, they recorded a total climb of 4445 feet on the ride – that is higher than Ben Nevis!

Overall, it was a fun day and a great team effort which involved heaps of mutual support and encouragement.  Greg and Gill are so touched by everyone’s kindness and want to say a big thank you to a fantastic team for both their riding and fund-raising efforts and to everyone who has contributed to the fund-raising for St.Christopher’s at time of writing, £6,812 was raised which will go a long way to helping the Hospice continue their great work.

It is not too late to donate, if you would like to contribute, the donations page is still live on JustGiving: www.justgiving.com/teamsynergygregsgang

Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer.