Cycling for New Hope – 110 miles, 3 days, 6 years old!

Hannah Killick, who is just 6 years old, has just completed a 110 mile bike ride in 3 days! She cycled from Bristol, where she lives, all the way to Reading, where both sets of her grandparents live. She was accompanied all the way by her dad, Adrian, and also by other friends and family along the way. Hannah raised money for an organisation called New Hope who care for orphaned and HIV+ children in India. When asked why she decided to set herself such an extreme challenge she said “The children who New Hope helps are really poor and need things which we all have. I really wanted to do this so they could have that stuff. I got the idea from Miss King (a teacher in my school)! She ran over 150 miles across the desert Sahara Desert for New Hope. I like cycling, so I thought I could do the same thing on my bike. I wanted to cycle from Bristol to Reading because I live in Bristol and my Nanna & Grandad and Nannie & Grandad all live in Reading.” Hannah spent the summer months training for this challenge and also went on a “bikeability” course to learn road safety rules. Day 1: Bristol to Devizes – 44 miles, Day 2: Devizes to Newbury – 41 miles, Day 3: Newbury to Reading – 25 miles. Since completing the event Hannah has reflected on her achievement and answered the following questions to provide an insight to what it felt like:

What was the best thing? “Cycling with everyone who cycled with me (daddy, Auntie Fi, Grandad and Mummy) and spending time with daddy. They all kept me safe and cheerful”
For her final mile Hannah was accompanied by her whole family, including her 4 year old brother and sister! The ride ended underneath a huge “FINISH” banner where cakes, scones and a celebration party were waiting for her!

What was the hardest thing? “The cold on the first day and the Hills on the third day”
As Hannah set off at 7am the temperature was 0 degrees! It took a long time to warm up, a bacon butty and hot chocolate stop helped at 10 miles!

What were the most difficult bits? “Waiting for lunchtime!”
Hannah had her first wobbly tooth on day 2 and she was unable to eat much after the ride, thankfully it fell out the next morning so she was able to eat a huge breakfast on the final day!

What was the best thing you saw? “3 deer running across the road and jumping into the hedge”
Hannah also loved all of the autumn leaves and seeing lots of different countryside they passed through.

Can you sum it all up: “I loved it, it was brilliant! I definitely want to do more cycling in the future. I’m really glad that I raised enough money to feed lots of children at New Hope, thank you!”

So far Hannah has raised £1,806 which will go towards funding New Hope’s feeding program where it costs 50p per day to provide a child with 3 hot meals (her sponsorship will feed 10 children for a year). If you are blown away by Hannah’s achievement then please support her by making a donation. You can text £5 by texting “nhrc00 £5″ to 70070 (Text £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 donations) Alternatively visit her fundraising page.

To find out more information about New Hope please visit the “New Hope” tab at the top of the page!

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Hello! My name is Mina and back in April I ran 154 miles over 7 days in the Sahara desert, carrying all of my own equipment! I signed up for this bonkers challenge for so many reasons; for the sheer joy of challenging myself to do something that is sure to take me close to my limits, to do something that is both terrifying and wildly exciting at the same time, but most importantly to participate in an event which provides me with a huge opportunity to raise a substantial amount of money. I have recently had the honour of being asked to be a trustee of New Hope Rural Community Trust (an amazing charity I spent some time working with last summer in India, registered charity no. 1002694). After a great deal of thought I decided to raise money for a very specific reason, to buy a piece of land which will, in turn, provide future security and a vital piece of independence for 14 children. I fully funded all of the costs involved for this event myself and so all the money that I received in sponsorship has gone directly to help the children at New Hope. The acre of land cost £8575, each sub-divided plot is £612.50, making it just under £2 per square yard. To read more about myself, the Marathon des Sables, New Hope, about why I chose to specifically buy land (there are so many reasons, which can be summed up essentially as providing a child with a piece of independence) and to see photos of the children your sponsorship has helped as well as me in training and in the Sahara, please click on the different tabs at the top of the page. In total I managed to raise £14,615 which should secure land for around 23 orphaned children. THANK YOU for all of your support, I’m amazed at the final total and how much love and support people have given. If if you are a friend of mine and have heard me go on and on about New Hope and are wanting to support the work of New Hope and didn’t get round to sponsoring my run, please click on the link to Hannah’s fundraising page and sponsor her instead! Thank you so much for taking the time to read about what I’ve done and Hannah is now doing! We would be massively grateful for any sponsorship, however big or small. 

If you have any questions my site does not answer then please feel free to contact me on: runningfornewhope@yahoo.co.uk  

A million thankyous…….   

I would also like to say a MASSIVE thank you to Anna for spending so many hours designing this beautiful website for not a penny. Amazing. If you are considering having a website built and would like to discuss any ideas with Anna, please contact her on annadholder@aol.com
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MdS complete! Whooop! If you would like to read the messages I wrote during the run then please visit the “Race & training diary” tab. An amazing video which really communicates the emotional immensity of completing this event can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DuoZgTl-i4 You can also see James and I crying on each other just after 2 mins of this clip! Endless thanks for the support you have shown, I could not have done it without you! x
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Target reached!It’s amazing to have gone past my original target, due to the immense support everyone has shown. There is more land available adjacent to the original section and so any additional funds will buy more land, providing more children with the chance to have an independent future.
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Chris at Complete Health has been providing me with free Chiropractic treatment in the build up to the race, keeping my bones and deep tissue issues under control! I’m quite sure I would NOT be as pain free with all my training if it wasn’t for Chris! Awesome! If your body needs some care please do visit his website:
www.completehealthclinic.com

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AMAZING YOUTH SUPPORT!
I am honored to tell you about the fantastic support I am receiveing for my Marathon des Sables fundraising from Paraclete Youth Group which is very exciting. Not only have they completed a sponsored 24 hour stay-awake event they have just completed writing and recording a song about my run and the children of New Hope! I am completely humbled and amazed by the commitment a group of young people have shown towards someone they have never even met! The world is full of brilliant people. For photos of this group in action please look in my gallery. I will add a link to the song once it is finalised – watch this space!! The biggest THANKS to Marcus, Joe, Gez, Scott, Rob, Jade, Bethanny, Alfie, Evelyn, Ffion, Andrew, Ed, Caitlyn, Hannah, Lauren, Emily, Cam, Bongo Clive and of course the wonder that is Hev! xx

Elmlea Cake/Toy/Book Sale Makes £266.08! Thank you SO MUCH Mrs Cockerham, Mrs Nason, Mrs Power, Mrs Netter and Mrs Broome for all of your help organising and running this fantastic event!

Bristol Evening Post! If you would like to read a super newspaper article (thanks for your help with this Mrs Baker) about my event please copy and paste this web link: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/limp-lettuce-Sahara-runner/story-15164765-detail/story.html

Sunday 1st April Fancy Dress Run! A lovely pootle along the cycle path handing out flyers about my run and New Hope, all in fancy dress! Best costumes: Jake the Gorilla, Josh Mr Sportacus, Anna chicken and Jean the cat reindeer! Lovely weather and good fun! Thank you all!

Marathon Des Enfant On Tuesday 27th March the whole of Elmlea Infants’ ran laps of the playing field and managed to total 151 miles! Wow! It was a beautiful sunny day and everyone cheered each other on, enjoying the challenge! Well done Elmlea! We then had some fantastic refreshments to raise further funds (thanks class 5 mums!) and, including the Easter service collection, in one day Elmlea raised £1347.44. That is more than the amount needed to buy 2 children from New Hope their own piece of land. Incredible. THANK YOU!
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