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Tuesday 10th December: Love Island’s Montana Brown, Blue Peter presenter Richie Driss and sports presenter Rachel Stringer, joined Rugby star Gareth Thomas on the road today for the second leg of his 500 mile, seven day cycle for Sport Relief.
Over the course of the day, the Tour de Trophy team battled through strong winds, rain and fatigue, to travel from Ludlow this morning and finishing up in Warrington evening. Today they cycled 87 miles, which means that so far Gareth has already covered 172 miles.
Gareth’s Tour de Trophy mission is to not only raise life-changing cash for Sport Relief, but also to deliver the BBC Sport Personality of the Year trophy from Geraint Thomas 2018 winner’s hometown to the 2019 winner at the live awards ceremony on Sunday December.
Gareth said: “Today has been such an important day. I met some people from the Sport Relief funded project Wyre Forest Nightstop who help prevent homelessness in young people throughout the Kidderminster area. So I might feel tired and drained after 12 hours cycling, but I am lucky, I have support from family and friends, and I am so pleased to be doing this challenge to raise funds to support people who are less fortunate, who don’t have the support they should. I am doing it for them and many others.”
Montana Brown said: “It’s so hard to peddle and steer, I am not going to lie it’s tough on there. To get us through we sang a few Christmas Carols and a bit of East 17’s ‘Stay’. Classic! We managed to get up to 27mph at one point, going downhill with the wind behind us, haha. It seriously feels great to support Gareth and Sport Relief, the work they do is so important.”
On supporting Gareth on the bike today, Richie Driss said: “It’s a privilege as Gareth genuinely cares and we all wish him the best as it’s a proper grind to cover the distance he needs to. In my opinion he is an inspiration in sport and in life.”
While raising money, Gareth is also learning about the work being done to tackle stigma in the UK, that money raised by Sport Relief makes possible, and will highlight some of the great work being done to tackle injustice on home turf. Earlier today, Gareth met project workers and beneficiaries from Wyre Forest Nightstop Scheme in Kidderminster which benefits from money raised by Sport Relief aims to address the needs of 16-25 year olds who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The former Welsh and British Lions rugby captain is on his way to the P&J arena in Aberdeen, where on Sunday 15th December he hopes to hand deliver the Sports Personality of the Year trophy on stage for the next lucky winner. He still has a long way to go. Tomorrow Gareth will cycle 73 miles from Warrington to Kendal.
