Fundraising places available

 

Click to help raise money for LDA.

We have places for the following event. If you are interested in one of these please contact our fundraising email address above.

 

Many thanks to those who have raised money for LDA

 

RideLondon 2017

Five riders put themselves forward for the RideLondon-Surrey 100 mile event to raise funds for LDA this year. Thank you to Richard, James, Layton, Nathan and Mike for taking on the challenge! And all 5 riders completed the full 100 miles! They raised a total of £3642.25. Very well done!

In his job as a Senior Lecturer in Biological Science at the University of Huddersfield, Dr Richard Bingham works on the outer surface proteins of Borrelia – the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. He is a frequent, and popular, speaker at LDA’s conferences. His wife Beckie too part in RideLondon 2016 and he got her to the (horrifically early)  start on time for the event, and picked her up at the end, so he knew what effort it was going to take!

Richard raised £1276.75

 

James Sanders says of his taking part in RideLondon: “It may not get quite the same level of publicity as other conditions, but Lyme disease can have seriously debilitating, long-term effects (including facial paralysis, hearing loss and heart complications) so I’m doing my bit to help raise money for LDA.
I’d class myself as a fair weather cyclist at best, so cycling 100 miles through the Surrey hills presents quite a stiff challenge! The goal is to compete it in under 6 hours.
Please take a moment to donate, all contributions are greatly appreciated! Thanks :)”

James raised £732.5

 

 

Layton Brooks took on the RideLondon challenge this year. He says “My girlfriend, Kelly, has been living with this disease for over 7 years, resulting in her adapting her daily routine in order to live a ‘normal’ life. She has been forced to quit the things in life she loves, such as dancing. She suffers from constant joint pain, extreme tiredness, headaches,and central nervous impairments that affect memory and sleep. It took over a year for doctors to identify her symptoms as Lyme disease and she takes a large amount of antibiotics everyday just to keep her head above water.

I have never set foot (or bum) on a road bike and would struggle to drive 100 miles in car without getting tired. My aim is to finish in 5 hours and 30 minutes, which will mean I will probably feel like I have Lyme disease by the end of the training and the race – extreme tiredness, muscle and joint pain and most likely a headache!!”
Layton raised £1063.75

 

This was the second consecutive year that Nathan took part in the challenge. He pledged to fundraise for LDA. As a youngster, a lot of his time was spent going out on bug-hunts and romping through the woodlands of Kent with his entomologist Stepdad, Mike, and ever-enthusiastic Mum, Jenny. A greater awareness of Lyme disease is always beneficial and the opportunity to help raise funds for LDA whilst getting fitter is not one that can be turned down.

In addition to this, it also gave him the opportunity to support Mike who has overcome personal challenges; who undertook his first centurion bike ride. Mike provided Nathan with the inspiration to get on a bike from a very young age and he was at his side at the end of the RideLondon 100 miles. It wasn’t until relatively recently that Nathan embarked upon road cycling, and bought his first (road) bike in 2013. That bike still lives on as a spare, because, as any avid cyclist knows; the n+1 rule always applies.

Mike Chittenden says “I will be taking part in the 100 mile challenge in the Prudential Ride London 100. This is the biggest challenge I have set myself since I returned to cycling in 2010. Back in 1994 I was diagnosed with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) which led to my being medically retired from my work at the Natural History Museum in the Department of Entomology. Although I returned to work in 2004 as a teacher I am left with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as a constant reminder of those years. I am raising sponsorship for the LDA, Lyme Disease Action, for this ride. Since leaving the museum I have continued my interests in Natural History. Together with my partner, Jenny Cole, I have worked as a leader for events for young people with the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership; primarily insect days, moth traps, rock-pooling and pond-dipping. I also give talks about insect photography. All of these interests bring us into contact with the countryside and we always make people aware of hazards such as Lyme Disease.

I started in 2010 with very short cycle rides which left me very, very tired. Since then I have progressed from a 10 mile charity ride to doing 60 miles for Allergy UK and Ride for Heroes. Each year I take part in the Pilgrim’s Hospice Ride with distances from 45 miles to 75 miles.”
Nathan and Mike raised £569.25

 

Nic and Neil’s Big Races

Nic and Neil Paice  challenged themselves with some big races this year – Nic ran the 2017 London Marathon in April and Neil and Nic both ran 100km in the Race to the Stones event in May!
They say “We both decided that we would like to run for a charity. We have got a friend called Tony King who has been diagnosed with Lyme disease. He is also a runner and he organises off road races in our area, Aspire Running. We don’t really know about the disease but do know that he has been quite poorly. We are hoping that raising some funds that LDA will eventually find better treatment for sufferers.”
The London Marathon starts in Blackheath, heads east through Charlton and Woolwich for three miles, turns west to pass through Greenwich and past the Cutty Sark ship between six and seven miles. It crosses the River Thames at Tower Bridge just before half way then loops around the east end of London, through Mudchute and Docklands, before heading west again along The Highway and Victoria Embankment to Parliament Square, Birdcage Walk and the final corner in front of Buckingham Palace.

The 100km Race to the Stones route passes up and along the high ground South West from Lewknor in Oxfordshire to the Thames crossing at Goring. The route then rises up onto the North Wessex Downs passing through fields before finishing at the towering stones of Avebury. Nic  decided to also take part in the 100km Race to the Stones with Neil!
Thank you to Nic and Neil who raised £521 for LDA.

 

Za’s Perth 10K

Za Powles took part in the Perth 10K in August. She says: “Last year my Mum was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. The bite occurred in 2012 but it is extremely difficult to test for, there is no definitive test for disease activity, and no test that can rule out Lyme disease. The sooner you are treated, the more effective the treatments can be. The work LDA are doing to improve awareness is critical in ensuring that patients are diagnosed and treated asap.
Symptoms and severity vary from person to person. Once of the hardest things for Mum has been that she “looks fine”, great in fact, but I know that the disease is an aggressive daily battle.
10k may not seem like the greatest of challenges but one has got to start somewhere! I used to be healthier and fitter, I even ran a marathon once. Raising money for LDA is my inspiration to get fitter again.  Time for a change, thank you for reading! “
Za raised £1,955. Thank you Za.

 

Crispin’s Southampton Half-Marathon

Crispin Boon has been inspired to raise funds for LDA by his brave, inspirational and amazing cousin Ruth to do the ABP Southampton Half Marathon. He said beforehand that it would be “A pleasant trot around Southampton, hopefully in the sunshine – but I shall be there come rain or shine. 13 miles. How hard can it be? Wheezing, blistered or otherwise – I AM going to do this. Please help with any support you can muster – and as I always say, size doesn’t matter. it’s the thought that counts!”
The Itchen Bridge was closed for the event and runners got a stunning view of the city and river and out towards the Isle of Wight.
Crispin raised £866.45. Thank you for your efforts.

HUBS 24hr Spin Bike Ride

The University of Huddersfield Bioscience Society had a 24 hour Spin Bike Ride from midday on the 22nd to the 23rd of November. They had 3 spin bikes in Huddersfield Students Union with volunteers participating in 1 hour time slots. They said they hoped to reach a target of 1000 miles in the 24 hours – the same as going from Huddersfield to Spain!

HUBS is aimed at students studying biological science degrees and anyone with an interest in science. It is run by co-presidents Abi Broxham and Sophie Cherrington, who have just finished their placement year with Dr Richard Bingham on proteins found in Borrelia Burgdorferi.
They raised £328.45. Many thanks to all who took part.

 

Highland Beauty Clinic Xmas Raffle

Bev Chapman, who raised a considerable sum for LDA earlier in the year with her Wing Walk, and her staff at the Highland Beauty Clinic held a Xmas raffle and raised £200 for LDA. Thank you to all for your efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz Walks 100 Miles for LDA

Liz walked the West Highland Way (100 miles) over five days. She says “I want to raise funds for Lyme Disease Action, a charity which raises awareness of Lyme Disease in the public and medical community and lobbies government for research.  My son, Matthew, was bitten by a tick when doing a Duke of Edinburgh award in the Highlands while at secondary school.  He was fortunate to be diagnosed as he had no bullseye rash and in 2008 GPs did not think that people got Lyme Disease in Scotland, however the internet and Matthew’s symptoms allowed me to request a test for Lyme Disease which came back positive and was followed by a week of intravenous antibiotics in hospital and four weeks of oral antibiotics.

After a few months of recovery, Matthew was well until about a year ago when he had a recurrence of the symptoms.  The Infectious Disease Consultant said that you cannot get recurrence and a Neurology Consultant was also dismissive of it being related to Lyme Disease, however the medication they gave did not improve symptoms and meant that Matthew was off work for about three months.  Despite both my husband and I working for the NHS, we decided that we would need to get help privately and following a period of antibiotics Matthew was fit to enjoy his wedding in March 2016.

The son of a close friend has also recently been diagnosed privately having been ill for several years.  I believe that Lyme Disease is massively under diagnosed in the NHS and there is a lack of knowledge how to treat it.  This is where Lyme Disease Action can help raise awareness with GPs to give antibiotics early for symptoms following a tick bite, promote the development of clinical guidelines to inform treatment plans by specialists and influence government to fund more sensitive tests to diagnose.

I will have my skin fully covered as I walk the West Highland Way (even if we have an Indian Summer in September) to protect against tick bites and am grateful for your support.”
Liz raised £1075. Many thanks.

Josh Runs the Great South Run

Josh ran 10 miles for LDA. He says: “My good friend and colleague at Westminster College has recently contracted Lyme Disease and has, therefore, had to put her studies on hold. Lyme disease is one that is often misdiagnosed, if it’s caught early enough it can be treated but it is more and more difficult as time goes on and so I am running the Great South Run (10 miles) to both raise awareness of the condition but also some valuable funds to help continuing research into the disease. Help me to raise as much as we can for Jo and everyone else suffering. ”

The Great South Run goes via Southsea and Portsmouth with its Historic Dockyard and the home of HMS Victory, finishing on the seafront and views across to the Isle of Wight.

Josh raised £496.25 more than double his target. Thank you Josh!

Nordic Walking Group’s live Gig

Nordic Walking Group in Colchester held a live band concert in November 2016 and sold tickets in aid of LDA. They held a tom bola and raffled many prizes that were donated from the Walking Group. They also held an auction of a beach hut rental for a week and a beautiful Christmas Cake. People brought their own wine and food and there was dancing too. They had a game called ‘heads and tails’ Each person pays £1 and a caller tosses a coin for heads or tails. Participants in advance of this put their hands on their heads or tails. its a process of elimination until one person is left and they take a percentage of the £1’s as a prize and the rest goes in the pot.
The Group raised £1061.50 for LDA. Many thanks to all who participated.

Alan’s Glencoe Marathon

  Alan Smith took on the Glencoe Marathon to raise funds for LDA. He says “I have been climbing, walking and running our hills for many years and have eleven friends who have contracted Lyme Disease in the course of their outdoor activities.”

The off-road marathon Alan embarked upon is an epic trail run that ascends a total of 1,608 metres through the heart of Glencoe and into the foothills of Ben Nevis.  The route snakes through the pass of Glencoe, surrounded by the towering remains of this ancient super volcano, before climbing 500 metres up the fearsome Devil’s Staircase over the eastern edge of the formidable Aonach Eagach Ridge. From the eastern edge of the Ridge you look straight onto the mighty Buachaille Etive Mor (the great herdsman) before dropping back to sea level at Kinlochleven. Climbing up through the Mamores the route undulates until the descent into Glen Nevis and the base of the mighty Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest peak.

The picture on the right is Alan completing the marathon with his dog. Click here for more photos

Alan raised £725. Many thanks.

Gordon’s Kayak Challenge

Gordon took on the challenge – a 27 mile kayak from Loch Oich to Dores on Loch Ness. The run from Loch Oich to Fort Augustus is a 6.6 mile river rapid which Gordon completed with some family members. On arrival at Fort Augustus his  family changed their kayaks for a motorised boat as Gordon took on the 20.1 mile kayak to Dores at the far end of Loch Ness. Gordon Says  “Since graduating university I wanted to do something different to raise the awareness of Lyme disease as I have witnessed how it can effect someone’s life. My best friend became ill around the age of 14 and was forced to leave school by 16 due to decline of health and the severity of symptoms.

I am currently joining the Navy. My aim is to raise awareness and funds for the Lyme disease cause. The Kayak route I have chosen is from Loch Oich to Dores on Loch Ness, a total distance of roughly 27 miles. I have seen first-hand how this disease can change someone’s life and I hope to be able to help in my small way.” Gordon doing the challenge on Loch Ness below:

Gordon raised £2351.82 way above his high target! Thank you for all your effort.

RideLondon 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following in the successful tyre tracks of Graham and Sara in 2015, we had two new intrepid riders taking part in the 2016 100 mile cycling challenge around the roads of London and Surrey. Beckie Bingham and Andrew Collett volunteered to raise money for Lyme disease.

With four kids (ages 5-14), a part-time student of the OU, a swimming teacher, a keen climber and runner, Beckie is a goddess of multitasking. A rock climber for the past 15 years, she loves bouldering in the Yorkshire dales, Peak District and Fontainebleau. Beckie trained hard for 9 months with a new goal of cycling the London100 raising money for Lyme Disease Action.

Andrew is married with 2 children and is a Biology lecturer at Huddersfield University. Andrew took on the challenge of the RideLondon 100 to raise money for Lyme Disease Action.In addition to raising money for the charities important work, as he reached the age of 50 just before the event, to prove to himself and anyone else who might be watching that he’s up to more than occasionally running for a bus!

Graham was so pleased when he finished RideLondon in 2015 and raised funds for LDA that he wanted to do it again!

Beckie, Andrew and Graham completed the 100 miles in very fast times on Sunday 31st July. They raised a total of £2221.27. Thank you very much Beckie, Andrew and Graham.

Vivian’s Aviemore Half-Marathon

Vivian says “I am 21 years old, originally from the US but am a biomed student at the University of Kent, currently on a placement year in Aberdeen. I am running the event to raise awareness for Lyme disease, as I had seen how it affected someone close to me. The body takes a toll in battling the illness, especially since it can take ages to diagnose due to the range of symptoms often leading to a different diagnosis, other than Lyme disease.
I feel that raising awareness and raising money towards research and development will lead us closer to finding effective treatments.”

The Aviemore Half Marathon is a truly highland route. The start is 1100ft above sea level with the Cairngorm Mountains in view. The first 7 miles are on forest tracks through Glenmore forest and village, then continuing onto another forest track around Loch Morlich, past Coylumbridge and Inverdruie, over the Spey River and finishing in Aviemore.
Vivian raised £170. Thank you!

Uplyme Village Fete

Volunteers had a stand at the Fete in Uplyme village and luckily had very good weather for the afternoon as it had been threatening to rain earlier in the day . They sold tick removers in aid of LDA, gave out leaflets and raised £41.62.

Thank you for your help.

 

 

 

Fern’s Half Marathon

Fern Calderwood ran the Edinburgh Half Marathon. She says: “I’m Fern- a 22 year old student from Glasgow, I am running the half marathon in Edinburgh to hopefully raise some awareness of Lyme disease in Scotland in my social circles. I personally was diagnosed with Lyme in January, after 6 months of failed diagnosis.

After talking to family and friends it seemed that Lyme was completely unheard of to anyone (as it was to me), and I wanted to raise some awareness of the condition so that if anyone who also had the rash could get the treatment needed.

Lyme Disease Action has been an amazing source of information for me personally.”

Fern raised £28.75. Thank you Fern.

Sidmouth Buskers

At Sidmouth Folkweek the Knock-kneed Bumblebee Band from Surrey busked on the sea front with the main intention of raising awareness by having leaflets available but they also collected £16 for LDA for their couple of hours effort. Many passers-by took leaflets. One came and sat down in front of the musicians and took it very seriously – she turned out to be daughter of a GP, so there is some hope for the future!

Well done on raising awareness about Lyme disease.

 

Bev Chapman’s Wing Walk

Bev said “I am wing walking to raise money for LDA. Lyme Disease Action is a U.K. based charity which helps raise public and clinical awareness of this horrible tick borne disease. Lyme disease is spread by infected ticks – (horrible wee beasties!) Which are prevalent in the great outdoors. If patients are not given the correct treatment and early enough, can lead to much more devastating consequences. So something as simple as reading leaflets to raise your own awareness can be so important!

My son Drew was diagnosed with Lyme disease in January 2015 when he was just 5 years old. It began with a rash on his torso along with severe tiredness and lethargy and then 2 weeks later he suffered a torticollis in his neck, he was in a lot of pain. There was no tick, no bullseye marking, I had no idea what was wrong with him. Drew was diagnosed with the disease through a blood test and because it was dealt with quickly and efficiently he seems to have recovered well. It is vitally important that the we are all made aware of what to do if you find a tick on you, or your child ( or even pet!) before it’s too late to treat.

Please take a moment to donate and help me reach my target…Every contribution counts, no matter how small I will be very grateful!

Let’s bite this disease on the ass by helping raise awareness!

Wish me luck, I must be aff ma heid!!”

Here she is doing the wing walk!  Bev had a target of £1000, but she has more than doubled it and has raised £2333.60! Thank you Bev!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madeline Dowd’s hike up Mount Fuji

Madeline did a two day hike up Mount Fuji because her friend contracted Lyme disease, to raise awareness about the disease and funds for LDA.

She said “I will be climbing mount Fuji over two days. The first day I will go up most of the volcano to reach a safe point, where I will stay the night, this is to let my body get use to the altitude. Then on my last day I will get to the top and come down.

Overall, the mountain is 3776m high, with a weaving path; and is the highest mountain in Japan.”

Madeline raised £445.

RideLondon 2015


Graham Davis and Sara Parfett took part in Prudential Ride London on 1st/2nd August 2015. From the website, “a 100-mile challenge on the same closed roads as the professionals, with the added incentive of raising money for good causes. To capture it all, the best action is broadcast live on TV in the UK and internationally, to be seen by an audience of millions.”

Many thanks to Graham and Sara for doing this and for raising £1389.58!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kirsty McAllister’s Skydive

Kirsty has a friend with Lyme disease, and decided to throw herself out of a perfectly good aeroplane with only a piece of thin fabric on her back. That sounded like a great reason to sponsor her!

Kirsty raised £1216.25 via her MyDonate page. Thank you, Kirsty!

 

 

 

 

Jamie’s Run around Britain

Jamie Lucas competed in several events in 2015 to raise funds for LDA. He wanted to raise funds and awareness because his sister and niece had contracted Lyme disease.

He raised £196.73. Many thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sian’s Long Runs!


Sian Thomas ran the Cardiff half marathon, and has previously completed the Cardiff 10K, to raise money for LDA. Sian’s MyDonate page was set up with a target of £500, but she outdid that easily and raised the fantastic sum of £712.50!

She says,

“My mother was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease after travelling in America for her 50th birthday last year.

The support and help that she has received from Lyme Disease Action as a charity has been invaluable to her and I am aiming to raise as much money and awareness for the charity as possible.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stewart Bint walks 10km barefoot

Stewart has a friend with Lyme disease, and offered to raise money for LDA by taking part in the Amis Sans Shoes 10km walk at the War Memorial Park in Coventry. Amis Sans Shoes is a community of people who enjoy walking and running barefoot. Their event is principally raising money for an international aid agency, but the organisers kindly allowed Stewart to raise funds for LDA.

Desford author Stewart Bint’s (on the right) 10km barefoot walk to raise awareness of Lyme Disease took an unexpected turn. Having misjudged the route, the gruelling Amis Sans Shoes walk ended up being 16.6km, which is 10.3 miles.

“So much more needs to be done to bring this dreadful disease into the public arena. I like to think my efforts over the last three months, culminating in this walk, have made more people aware of it.”

The walk began at the Coventry War Memorial Park and moved on to trails through Wainbody Woods and Canley Ford. “The terrain included a carpet of dead holly leaves! We had to pick our way extremely carefully through those.”

Stewart raised £132.50

 

Kelvin Fraser cycled the Etape Loch Ness

The Etape Loch Ness was a new cycle challenge that followed a 66-mile route alongside Loch Ness and back the other side.

Kelvin was diagnosed with Lyme two years ago and is keen to raise awareness in Scotland.

Kelvin reports, “Everything was checked and checked again the night before. The plans were in place for meeting my cycling partner at 6am on the day of the race and we would head over to the starting point, all was well. I woke up with a jump on race day – it was 5.20am and my alarm hadn’t gone off! Not the start to the day I had planned!

Despite the late start I still managed to make the rendezvous and we headed off to the start.
There was a good buzz around with everyone looking forward to the first Etape Loch Ness!
6.30 and the first wave of riders were on their way! 6.46 soon came around and I was on my way.

Once onto the A82 I felt good and soon starting to make way up the ranks and kept a good pace.
coming out of Fort Augustus and onto the south side of the Loch I knew what was ahead of me – the climb up Glendoe! I managed up the hill without stopping and I knew that I would complete the course as long as there were no bike issues!

I kept a good pace all the way back to Inverness and finished in a time of 3 hours and 56 minutes! This put me in 416th overall out of 1250 riders, with an average of 17mph!
Already thinking about how I can beat the time next year!”

Kelvin raised £550 for his fantastic effort.

Tamworth Arts Club

A member of the club has suffered from Lyme, so they decided to dedicate the opening night (22nd April) of their production, “The Sound of Musicals” to us and to donate the profits from that night. They raised £156. Thanks to everyone who was involved.

 

 

 

 

Maidenhead Choral Society

Our Chairman, Stella, attended the Maidenhead Choral Society’s Christmas Party, and gave a talk about Lyme disease. The Society very kindly made a collection for us and raised £182.22.

Denny’s Coniston Challenge

14 miles around Lake Coniston in the Lake District: probably the most beautiful road race in the country, but will he be admiring the scenery?!

Denny says, “I am running a range of races this year to help support this charity. This will be the first of my runs for this year. My friend Nicola suffers from Lyme disease and I want to support her and the charity to enable them to carry out the vital research that they are undertaking.”

Denny’s MyDonate page raised £335.

 

 

“Run to the Beat”

Kerry said: “I am running a half marathon in London for the charity Lyme Disease Action. They exist to address the current lack of awareness of Lyme disease amongst the public and the medical profession. My cousin Tony contracted Lyme Disease from a tick bite approx five years ago. My family had never heard of Lyme Disease and I’m sure a majority of people have no idea what it is.”

The run took in a circuit of Greenwich Park in London, and Kerry’s MyDonate page raised £296.25.

Ross’s Switzerland Walk June to July 2013.

Ross walked from Yorkshire to Switzerland; entirely self contained and camping on the way.

Des and RossRoss is on the right. He is pictured here with a friend, whose experience with Lyme partly inspired this trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a map of his route.

 

 

 

 

 

June 13th 2013 – Ross left Halifax, Yorkshire.

June 19th 2013 – in the last few days he has walked from Zeebrugge to Ghent, and is hoping to reach Waterloo today.

June 23rd 2013 – nearing the border with Luxembourg.

June 29th 2013 – in Echternach in Luxembourg. He says, “Luxembourg the country is amazing for walking. Small but steep sided hills covered in woods and small forests. The large valleys have rivers running through them and the smaller valleys are more gorge like with little ribbon streams and hemmed in by ribbons of rock faces covered in moss and bracken and over hung by a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees. The wildlife too is everywhere…”

July 7th 2013 – he crossed the Mosel into Germany and then followed the river into France. Apparently few tourists visit this area, so there were no campsites or hotels, and Ross got stared at a lot, but has enjoyed visiting parts of the Maginot line and a castle or two! He has made it through Sarreguemines and on to Bitches, and is planning his route towards Switzerland.

July 14th 2013 – despite problems with his feet, Ross chose to walk through the Vosges mountains towards Mulhouse. Says Ross, “The Vosges Mountains are truly a small corner on earth one could call a paradise.” He’s been finding ticks in the area as well, although he hasn’t been bitten yet. It seems most people there know the risk – good for them!

July 20th 2013 – Ross is now in Thann, near Mulhouse, and is very close to the Swiss border. He says it has been very hot there, so we are not the only ones sitting in a heatwave.

July 22nd 2013 – after six long weeks of walking and “a long blistering walk across the Alsace valley”, Ross makes it to Basel just inside the Swiss border! What a magnificent achievement!

Ross raised £223.75. Thank you Ross!

Ruby’s Cycle Ride (with her Daddy) raised £340

John Hunter cycled with his daughter Ruby in the 13 mile long Westhill Bike Ride west of Aberdeen at the beginning of June.

Ruby and Daddy took 1hr 7mins last year at an average speed of 11.6mph. This year they did it in 56mins – despite Ruby being a bit heavier!

There can’t be many toddlers who would sit still on the back of a bike for an hour; nor many fathers who would race with them behind!

 

 

 

Helen Porter ran the 2013 London Marathon and raised a colossal £34,072.75

Despite telling friends “never again” and despite being two years older Helen completed the marathon in a time not far short of her previous run. Helen said “It was a struggle, but I made it. It was a beautiful day, warm (a bit too warm), and the crowds were magnificent, as always. I have just heard that there were record crowds (700K +) and I would like to think that this is at least partly because we Brits wanted to put up two metaphorical fingers to the Boston terrorists

 

 

Here she is just before the finish.

 

 

 

A magnificent effort prompted by having seen the devastating effects of Lyme disease on her sister.

 

 

 

Abby’s Nippy Dip in the North Sea raised £548.75 for LDA

Abby Twigger took a very chilly dip at Aberdeen beach on Boxing Day to raise money for LDA. She achieved twice her target! 

Abby says “Bizzarrely it wasn’t as bad as I thought, and even though I had shaky legs afterwards that can happen to Lymies too, so it felt right! I chose the charity Lyme Disease Action because one of my absolute favourite people had Lyme disease return for the second time in her life and I have seen the effects of it on her and her family.”

 

 

 

 

Helena’s hike round London raised £892.50

On a Sunday in May 2012 (normally her day off) Helena completed a 26-mile walk around London. The hike started at the Olympic Park in Stratford and ended at the O2 in Greenwich, taking in Regents Park, Lord’s Cricket Ground, Hyde Park and The Mall along the way.  Helena said afterwards “I have to admit my feet were a bit sore in the office the next day, but everyone was very sympathetic!”

Carol trekked the Scottish West Highland Way and raised £425.50

Thank you Carol!

Ascot Skydive – The Lyme Nine

The “Lyme Nine” – Mel Allen, Lauren Treadwell, Adam Goddard, Mickey Morum, Dee Daly, Chris Betts, Hannah Jarvis, Luke Sanders and Jackie Ancient, hurled themselves out of a plane, freefalled for thirty-five seconds with the parachute opening at 5,000 feet!

They have also put a tremendous amount of work into getting their friends and relatives to sponsor them and not only raised a huge sum of money for LDA but increased awareness into the bargain.

They raised a magnificent £17,082.43. Thank you Lyme Nine!