Ten amputee military veterans have joined firefighters to ride from John OâGroats to Landsâ End in support of a comrade with Motor Neurone Disease.
The nearly 1,000-mile challenge will take the team of veterans and emergency service personnel 13 days to complete, using push and hand bikes as well as specially adapted tandems. The operation will be a fund and awareness raising event for both Motor Neurone Disease and charity Pilgrim Bandits â who organise gruelling expeditions for injured service and emergency personnel, many of whom are amputees or have PTSD. With a no sympathy approach, Pilgrim Banditsâ motto is âAlways A Little Furtherâ â pushing veterans beyond what they thought was possible to build confidence.
Pilgrim Bandits have teamed up to run the expedition, Operation Ride UK, with veteran and ex-firefighter John Chart. One year ago, John, 49, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND.)
Together with Johnâs team of ex-military and serving firefighters, the Pilgrim Bandits team left John OâGroats on August 10th. There will be gruelling challenges for the team to complete along the 13-day course. The expedition will be the first since lockdown was announced, and with many of the team having been shielding, they said they canât wait to get started. The operation is being supported by another military charity â Vetrun180. Volunteers from Vetrun180, who are injured veterans themselves, will be organising logistics like preparing food and setting up camp for the riders.
John Chart was just 48-years-old when he was diagnosed with MND in July 2019. MND is a fatal and incurable neurodegenerative disease, with a life expectancy of three to five years of symptom onset. Six people a week die from the condition and another six are diagnosed. As a firefighter for 26 years, John said he was âdevastatedâ by the diagnosis but determined to fight it. He will be using a specially adapted tandem and will be riding with various companions including his 14-year-old son Christopher.
He said: âMotor Neurone Disease is a demonic disease. It is like an assassin; it sneaks up on you and itâs like someoneâs got a remote control and itâs just closing my body down gradually. I want to raise awareness, I want to see the devastation of what it does to you, but I also want to say to people donât ever give up. Youâve got to keep going. Donât ever give up.â
John is determined to raise awareness of MND and has already received support from Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, who posted a photo on Instagram of her wearing a âMND Warriorâ t-shirt in support of the challenge.
Joining the expedition with Pilgrim Bandits Patron is former Lance Corporal Tyler Christopher, who was injured in Afghanistan in August 2009 after standing on an IED bomb, which resulted in the loss of both his legs above the knee. He has taken part in several Pilgrim Bandits expeditions including a 500-mile kayaking challenge down the Yukon River in Canada. Tyler said that Pilgrim Bandits had âmassivelyâ helped him to realise that he can still do things he loved to do before his injury, like wild camping.
He said training had been going well, adding: âIâm really looking forward to this challenge and seeing everyone on it. Iâve really missed the comradeship and the company as I was in lockdown in a very isolated area. I had my family around, but military friendships are different.â
CEO of Pilgrim Bandits, Matt Hellyer will be leading the expedition. He said: âWe are proud to be riding with John â raising awareness and funds for MND and Pilgrim Bandits. Our motto is âAlways A Little Further,â because we know that pushing our team physically and mentally â when they have already endured so much â sees them rise above and beyond. We donât do sympathy, but we offer camaraderie, an adventure and we believe in the power of humour over pain. And we are going to need all of that to overcome not only the 912 miles in 13 days, but the extra challenges awaiting the team along the way.â
You can follow the expedition progress via the Pilgrim Bandits Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram feeds and via Johnâs page Cycle Challenge for MND or on Instagram @cyclechallange4mnd. Donations can be made to Pilgrim Bandits via the Operation Ride UK Total Giving page: bit.ly/3fadwvw