{"id":17989,"date":"2024-10-30T14:05:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T14:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selfhelpafrica.org\/uk\/?p=17989"},"modified":"2024-10-30T17:11:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T17:11:07","slug":"marathon-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selfhelpafrica.org\/uk\/marathon-cycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Marathon Cycle from Connemara to the Cairngorms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the wilds of Ireland\u2019s west coast to the spectacular Cairngorms of the Scottish Highlands, marketing executive Mike Last embarked on a challenge to remember, in 2024.<\/p><p>The 61-year-old cycled an amazing 1,550 miles from the top to toe of both the United Kingdom and of Ireland in a matter of weeks \u2013 and succeeded in raising close to \u00a31,600 to support for Self Help Africa, into the bargain!<\/p><p>Mike took up cycling as a hobby just four years ago, but he says that planning his amazing cycling adventure across Ireland and the UK had been underway for over a year ago.<\/p><p>\u201cI wanted to set myself a challenge for my 61<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;year and reasoned that a trip like this probably wasn\u2019t going to be something I\u2019d take on when a was 71,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve always played sport and kept fit, but nonetheless I needed to train consistently and build up both distance and hills closer to the event. Without this approach, I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;d have had either the stamina or the belief to complete it.\u201d<\/p><p>The marathon trip took him a total of 16 days at an average distance of between 16-17 miles per hour, and amongst the highlights were the wilds of Connemara, Donegal and the Gap of Dunloe in Ireland, as well as the trip through the Cairngorms National Park and The Lecht region of the Scottish Highlands.<\/p><p>A dad of two who works with an Africa-based telecommunications infrastructure company, Mike says that he chose to support Self Help Africa because he wanted to support the work of an African focussed organisation, and he also loved the organisation\u2019s ethos of empowering and enabling rural communities.<\/p><p>From all of us at Self Help Africa, thank you to Mike for his incredible dedication, time and effort in his cycling challenge! We appreciate all his hard work and we couldn&#8217;t be more grateful! To Mike and all of his generous friends and family, you are amazing!<\/p><p>You can still contribute to Mike\u2019s fundraising efforts, and read more about his trip at:&nbsp;<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justgiving.com\/page\/mikelast1963\">https:\/\/www.justgiving.com\/page\/mikelast1963<\/a><\/p><p>If you feel inspired to embark on a challenge or fundraise in any other way for us, we would love to hear from you. Contact\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:sophie.crockford@selfhelpafrica.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sophie.crockford@selfhelpafrica.org<\/a>\u00a0and we will support you all the way.\u00a0 You can find out more about how you can <a href=\"https:\/\/selfhelpafrica.org\/uk\/fundraise\/\">support the work of Self Help Africa here<\/a>.  You can also choose to make a regular donation to us <a href=\"https:\/\/selfhelpafrica.org\/uk\/donate\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marketing executive Mike Last completed a marathon 1,550 mile cycle &#8211; from Land&#8217;s End to John O&#8217;Groats and from Malin to Mizen Head in Ireland for Self Help Africa.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/selfhelpafrica.org\/uk\/marathon-cycle\/\"> Read More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[703,637],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fundraising","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v23.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mike&#039;s Marathon Cycle from Connemara 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