34Km of Pain - BT supporting The Real Man Cycling Challenge

Published by Matt Polaine | Filed under Cycling, Cycling infrastructure

EVENT POSTPONED!

For new sponsors please view 2009 event sponsorship page.

The Real Man Cycling Challenge will be one of very few sports charity events completed mainly by men, for men, but is also open to women. The event will be held on Sunday 14th September around Canary Wharf in London with the aim of raising vital funds for The Prostate Cancer Charity, with BT as one of the major supporters. BT has two major cyclists as part of the BT Ambassadors for London 2012 programme with Chris Hoy and Shanaze Reade.

picture: Matt Polaine, Mont Ventoux, France 2008

2000 cyclists will take part in the event. The 34KM route will start and finish at Excel, Docklands and cyclists will follow a route based mainly around Canary Wharf, which will be London’s first closed road corporate cycling challenge. This new flagship charity cycling event in East London in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity.

Each team member will receive a Real Man Cycling Challenge cycle jersey worth £50, free bronze membership for one year to the UK governing body British Cycling - and a ten per cent discount kit voucher and 15 per cent service voucher from Evans Cycles.

Additionally, distinctive yellow jerseys will be awarded to teams and individuals who have the best overall time for the event - while green jerseys will be given to winners of the sprint sections.

Celebrities planning to hit the streets of London in support of the event include radio and TV presenters Neil Fox, Adrian Chiles, Mark Lawrenson, James Cracknell, Graeme Le Saux, and for fellow cycling fans, the ‘real’ celebrities are the British Cycling Squad, and Phil Liggett. Matt hopes Victoria Pendleton and Rebecca Romero will also be cycling!

While the younger Team GB cycling squad have performed beyond all expectations in the Beijing Olympics, the UK has also high performance from older cyclists, with British riders taking four medals at the 13th World Masters Road Championships (over 50s and over 60s), hosted by Austria in St Johann in August 2007.

This event is recognised by the UCI and Pat McQuaid, UCI president was quoted as saying “Cycling is not just a sport. It is above all a mass phenomenon which concerns all age categories in our society. For this reason the event in Austria is of great importance, in which hundreds of riders from all over the world will be taking part”.

Nationally we have riders like Mick Ives and his racing team MI Thule Racing, since 1990. In this time, Mick has won a British Champion title every year and achieved a world championship six times over (2000, 2001 and twice in 2004, 2005 and 2006) and is the first man in the UK to represent their country in four individual disciplines: Road, Cyclo-Cross, Mountain Biking and Track.

Mick, aged 66, is now in his 52nd racing season. He has been competing, non-stop through the summer and winter months since 1956, winning British Championships every year he has raced, which is something no other cyclist has achieved.

Compared to these champions, BT researcher Matt Polaine merely competes in 100Km Merida MTB Marathon Series in the Welsh mountain Enduro Events, and each year takes on the hardest European mountain assault - Mont Ventoux from Bedoin aiming to get under 2hrs to the summit. The ascent is the equivalent of riding from sea level to 300 metres above Ben Nevis within 22Km and 2hrs.

In July 2009 Matt will attempting to complete the world’s third toughest long distance event, the London-Edinburgh-London Audax within six days, covering 1,400Km, through day and night.

At a young 42 years of age in 2008, Matt, a BT GCTO Researcher, still has plenty of miles left in him! Please help raise funds by supporting Matt at The Real Man Cycling Challenge!