Odd Squad Ride for Odd Balls
Old Sedberghians Andrew Jarman (W 06-09), Jordan Anderson (W 06-11), Josh Phillips (SH 07-11), and John Marshall (W 08-13) are part of a team that will undertake an inspiring challenge of cycling 240 miles in support of their friend Adam Caton who was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer aged just 27.
The epic challenge will take place across three days from 23rd-25th October 2020.
Adam writes, “As a close group of friends since school we were in utter shock that something like this could happen to someone so young. It wasn’t until after we found out this news that we learnt that 1 in 250 males will develop testicular cancer at some point in their life and in fact the average age of diagnosis is 33.”
Adam has since had a testicle removed, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy.
“A group of us (including 4 Old Sedberghians) decided we wanted to raise some money to help the fight against cancer, so despite a serious lack of cycling experience (the most I’ve ever cycled was 8 miles when I was 12, on a Sedbergh Junior School trip), with zero bikes between 15+ of us, we drew inspiration from Adam’s love of the sport to set ourselves the challenge of riding the 240 miles from his parents house where he grew up in Kirkby Lonsdale, to his home in Milton Keynes this October.
Adam is an incredibly keen cyclist who regularly does 50+ miles on his bike and as a result of his on going chemotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has made it near on impossible for him to get out on the bike. With this passion in mind we felt [this would be] a fitting way to show him our support and raise awareness. We plan to accomplish this in 3 days and raise as much money as possible for the testicular cancer charity Oddballs in doing so.
We…hope that the money will help this wonderful charity to continue doing what they do best – raising awareness and fighting testicular cancer! Any donations would be very gratefully received.
To give you some background on the Odd Squad partaking in the event, when the group WhatsApp was set up to discuss the logistics of the event, it quickly came to our attention that out of 11 lads, not 1 of us owned a bike or had ridden one since we were kids.”
The route:
Day 1 – Kirkby Lonsdale – Knutsford (78.7 miles)
Day 2 – Knutsford – Tamworth (74.2 miles)
Day 3 – Tamworth – Milton Keynes (79.2 miles)
Participants: Andrew Jarman (W 06-09), Jordan Anderson (W 06-11), Josh Phillips (SH 07-11), John Marshall (W 08-13), Harry Fellows, Andy Jacobs, Daniel Akrigg, Jason Roper, Josh Sayle, Richard Adams, Ciaran Wilson, Alex Denby, John Marshall, Annabelle Caton, Ellie Williamson, Jordan Field, John/Helen Caton, Mary Crackles, Joanna Rycroft.
Please click here to contribute to the Odd Squad’s JustGiving page.
