Rider helps raise £31,000 for charity which helped brother

A MAN from Wargrave has raised £31,000 by cycling from London to Paris in aid of the charity which supported his late brother.

Stephen Porter, of High Street, was joined by Charlie Tuke, 57, Peter Harper-Hill, 61, and Andrew Riley, 63, to raise money for Neuroendocrine Cancer UK after his brother Geoff died a year after his diagnosis in February this year, aged 61.

The riders left Lancaster Gate in central London on August 17 and completed the 110-mile journey to the French capital the following afternoon in a time of 22 hours and 58 minutes.

The cyclists stopped to rehydrate and eat at the Ardingly Inn in Haywards Heath as they headed to Newhaven in East Sussex to catch a ferry to Dieppe.

After the ferry docked in France, the group spent the day riding through the countryside where temperatures reached 32C before finally arriving at the Arc de Triomphe at 4pm.

The riders were supported by a van carrying spare bikes, medical supplies and food.

As they left London, the group was cheered on by Mr Porter’s wife, Niamh, and Mr Tuke’s wife, Denise, who were in charge of the van, and a crowd of their friends who stood at Lancaster Gate.

Mr Porter, who works as a chartered surveyor in London, said: “We got on the ferry at about 10.30pm and grabbed some food and kip before we began cycling at 5am [English time].

“We didn’t get a great deal of sleep. We stopped for breakfast after 35 miles to Marines before cycling another 35 miles into Paris.

“Fortunately [on the way to New Haven], we had a side wind and by the time we got to Paris it was boiling. We were very lucky because there were no mechanical failures on the bikes or injuries.

“We had our water bottles on the bikes and we kept them topped up whenever we stopped.

“It was sunny and dry all the way there.

“As we cycled up the Avenue de la Grande-Armée to the Arc de Triomphe, you come around a corner and then all of a sudden, having come through Parisian suburbs, it’s there at the top of the hill which is a very welcome sight. “Our support crew and friend [John Woods] made a surprise visit with a bag full of cold beer and we were as happy to see the beers as we were him.”

The group carried snacks to keep them going, including homemade flapjacks, bags of sweets and energy gels.

Mr Porter said there were steep inclines on the journey which the group found difficult.

He said: “Turners Hill on the way to New Haven was a nasty one and there was a steep 14 per cent descent on a nasty windy bit with roadworks that goes to Paris, north of Saint Germain-en-Laye. We carried on because when you’re on a bike, you create some wind so it doesn’t feel too bad.”

Mr Porter said it was important to raise funds for the charity because it is a rare disease. It affects around six in 100,000 people.

His brother, Geoff, who worked as a barrister in London, was diagnosed with large cell neuroendocrine cancer.

He said: “When my brother was diagnosed it spread and he didn’t quite last the year. He received treatment at London Bridge hospital which is where he died.

“He had a little-known form of the cancer and this charity is not funded by larger cancer charities or the NHS and they support everyone with the disease so we wanted to raise as much money as we could.

“He probably would have thought we were mad for cycling to Paris in 24 hours and he wouldn’t have been far wrong.

“Geoff was a keen cyclist and oarsman himself.”

Mr Porter trained for the ride by cycling around Wargrave and the surrounding villages and worked up his stamina by cycling to and from London where he works.

In the last year, he has cycled about 1,700 miles.

He said to raise such a large amount was “humbling”.

“We had some very generous donations and we’re delighted with the figure.”

The riders celebrated their achievement by enjoying a drink at Café de l’Église in Paris. To make a donation, visit neuroendocrinecanceruk
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