Meet the Edinburgh College student cycling from Land's End to John o' Groats for charity
An Edinburgh College student chef is set to undertake an arduous, almost 1000-mile cycling journey, all to support a close friend and raise money for charity.
60-year-old Jackie Reid, who’s currently studying Level 2 Culinary Skills at Milton Road, will cycle all the way from Land’s End at the southern tip of England, to John O’Groats on Scotland’s northern coast.
Jackie’s making the trip alongside her good friend Penny to raise money for Sands, a charity which offers support to families that have suffered bereavement, as well as other pregnancy related issues. The duo will travel an average of around 100 miles a day for 10 days, as they make their way up the entire length of the UK mainland starting on the 11th of April.
Jackie’s telling us how she became involved:
“The idea for it came about because my friend, Penny, recently went through a family tragedy. Her daughter had a still-born baby, at full-term, and they had no clue beforehand there was any sort of issue. It’s been a really tough time for everyone, and so she wanted to do something to raise awareness, and raise money for the charity, Sands, that helped her family.”
Jackie says she knew straight away she wanted to take on the challenge:
“I volunteered without hesitation to be Penny’s support rider. The two of us have a history of cycling together, we’ve suffered together and we can cope with some of the rigours that face you doing these sorts of distances. It’ll be tough, Cornwall is notoriously difficult with its short, sharp hills, and we could be getting hit with some nasty gusts on the way up, but we’ll make it through.
“The third day is a scary 225km ride which I’m not really looking forward to! But we’ll look to adapt our journey if we need to along the way, we’re at the massive mercy of the weather really. I’ve actually done Land’s End to John O’Groats before, but in two separate stages. I stopped off at Edinburgh, then went the rest of the way a few weeks later, this time we’ll be doing it all in one go!”
While Jackie is 60, and Penny is 68, she says age isn’t a concern at all:
“The focus Penny has for her age is just unbelievable. We both have reasonable bike fitness, but she’s a phenomenal athlete, and person. I just ride my bike, I like to keep fit and whenever there’s nice weather I head out. We’re both aware of the physical challenge, but I know we’ll be able to meet it.”
Finally, Jackie says that failure simply isn’t an option:
“I know we’ll do it. Raising money for charity is such a huge motivating factor, and we’re getting so much support from all of our friends and loved ones. It’ll be really hard, but I am absolutely confident that we will get over that finish line.”
If you’d like to donate to Jackie and Penny’s fundraiser, you can do so here.