Ross Olney and friends

Ross Olney raised £676 from a 100km cycle ride with the help of Lea Barn Stables in Wexham, followed by a cake and coffee sale. Ross told us that this was the first time he had organised such an event, and the ITP Support Association was his chosen charity as we had helped his parents through a tough time in 2016 when his father was diagnosed with ITP. Sadly, due to further complications, his Dad passed away at the end of November last year.

Ross thoughtfully sent us a summary of the adventure, along with the photos (in which you can see what a miserable day it was by the rain on their glasses!) Ross explained “The three of us Ross Olney (in red), Ben Wakeling (in yellow), and Maddie Knight, are all cyclists generally, so were keen to test our distance capabilities. Saying that I have done this distance only a couple of times before, Ben has completed an Iron Man race so is no stranger to time in the saddle, but for Maddie it was the furthest she had ever ridden so we are all proud to have accompanied her on breaking the 100km barrier.

The ride went well, the weather on the other hand was not so well. . .

On 18^th November we set off from Lea Barn stables, in Wexham, at 09:40ish on a cold sunny day, this quickly changed and by 11am it was raining and stayed wet for the rest of the day. The weather aside, it was a very pleasant ride in great company.

We fulfilled our aim to take a photo at Windsor castle 20mile/30km into the ride, and at

the George III Copper horse statue which is roughly at the half way mark. We lunched at Ascot and then took a route via reservoirs near to Heathrow airport up to Ivor Heath

and back to the stables without a stop, due to weather and temperature. In all we covered 64.1 miles in 4hrs 40min. Whilst we were hard at work Trilly Whitby, the owner of Lea Barn Stables, ran a cake and coffee day, with help from all the ladies at the stables, to help raise funds through the riders at the stables”.

We congratulate Ross, Ben and Maddie on completing this gruelling ride, and send our heartfelt thanks to them, and to Trilly and her helpers for their efforts in raising funds and awareness.