BLOG: Born to ride – A New Year’s wish come true.
For many of our Tour de Moor riders, cycling is their passion and runs through their veins.
This is absolutely true for one of our younger riders, 8-year-old George Lake from Tavistock, who will be achieving his New Year’s wish on Sunday 8 October.
While many toddlers were learning to walk, George was learning to ride. George’s mum Anna Lake, recounts where his love of cycling first started. “He has been into cycling since he was old enough to toddle along on a balance bike – which was when he was about 18 months old! He now loves riding on the moors and going downhill riding at Gawton Gravity hub.”
No stranger to a challenge, George even recently competed in the South West XC series where he came third overall in the Under 8’s category.
Clearly no novice when it comes to cycling, George first heard about our Tour de Moor charity cycling event last year and knew straight away that he wanted to be part of the action this year. So much so, that when writing a list of things he wanted to achieve in 2023 at New Year, one of his wishes was to take part in Tour de Moor and raise money for St Luke’s while doing so.
George has already got his JustGiving page up and running, aiming to raise as much as possible so that we can continue to provide care and support to hundreds of people and their families who are going through the hardest of times.
While the family have not had to call upon our services previously, Anna has seen where St Luke’s sits within our local community and knows how important it is to support our services to prepare for whatever the future may hold.
“Although we don’t have an attachment to St Luke’s in a personal way, we recognise it’s a great local charity doing important work in our community and one day, we may need to call upon their support.”
George will be taking on the 33km route with his dad Matt, which this year has been revamped for an improved ride, featuring plenty of on and off road challenges to put his skills to the test.
During the summer holidays, George has been kickstarting his training in preparation for the event. Anna said: “George rides on the moors most weeks with his dad and over the coming weeks they’ll be doing some longer training rides in the run up to the big day!”
Like George, you don’t have to have witnessed our care first-hand to take part in our Tour de Moor. By taking part and fundraising for our care, you can ensure that yours and your loved ones’ futures are cared for, whatever they may hold.
The registration fee for our Tour de Moor, sponsored by Print, Copy, Scan Ltd, only covers the costs of running the event, which is why the money you raise in sponsorship means so much to us. If every Tour de Moor cyclist commits to raising at least £100, we’ll collectively have enough to care for 100 families at home at the most crucial of times.
What’s more if you raise over £100 in sponsorship and have paid it in by 26 November 2023 you will be entered into a draw to win an exciting prize! So don’t forget to set up your JustGiving page here and join the big-hearted bunch of cyclists taking on Dartmoor in October.
Register now and be part of something special.