Once again the Futurestars Charity and Ipswich Town Foundation teamed up for another cycling challenge to raise much-needed funds for both charities on Saturday 13th July. We were indebted to our two main sponsors – Graham and Jason from Ashford Wright and Suffolk Growth who are very supportive of our event and are keen to promote The Wolf Way to a wider audience.
The Wolf Way was designed by two cyclists Sharon Calton & Chris Bower and the whole route goes all the way around Suffolk for 248 Miles. Our team of 16 cyclists tackled a 60-mile stretch from Ipswich Town Football Club to the Wolf Statue at Bury St Edmunds. Sharon & Chris accompanied us as tour guides plus we also had the amazing support of Lisa, Emma and Steve from Elmy Cycles in Ipswich who came with us and helped with all the pre-event information. Unlike our previous road cycling events, this tour included off road cycling across bridleways, country paths and sprawling fields – a whole new ball game…. transitioning from road to path and back again along the way was challenging and whoever said Suffolk was flat has never cycled from Ipswich to Hadleigh and on to Lavenham!
We started at Portman Rd with a coffee and bacon roll from the Coffee Mod and set off at 9am for our first stop along the way at Hadleigh United. Then a stop at Bures where we saw the medieval Bures Dragon and on to Lavenham for a Lasagne lunch at the beautiful Angel Hotel – many thanks to Greene King for the support with refreshments during and after the ride. From there we headed to Cockfield for our final stop before finishing at the Wolf Statue outside Bury St Edmunds Cathedral. All in all an amazing challenge with a great group of people, I was delighted to finally get off the bike after around 6hrs 15 minutes in the saddle. A hot buffet and a celebratory pint at the Dog & Partridge Pub in Bury had never tasted so good.
So finally I would like to thank all of the sponsors, cyclists, support team and everyone who has sponsored us to take on the challenge. Both charities are extremely grateful for the support and we hope to raise over £10,000 from the event. Former Ipswich Town Captain Luke Chamber completed his first ever cycling challenge and he was sponsored by “Life’s a Pitch TV” so thanks also go to Mark Calver & Mark Murphy.
Watch this space for future events but I may need to let my backside rest a while before getting back on….
