Tuesday 23rd January saw the start of the MSRRF Pedal Power challenge – a three day event organised to promote the upcoming Coast to Coast cycle this May. During the event, the service users at Benmar House and their family, friends and carers took to static bikes and Motomeds to collectively cycle the distance that our riders will be covering this May – showing that if they can achieve this milestone, so can you!

Many people set their own personal milestones within the challenge. A lot of the service users who participated cycled for a whole hour – double the amount they would usually do in their exercise sessions. However, the biggest challenge was thrown down by Sean Bloomfield, who challenged himself to ride for the full seven hours on Tuesday. He cycled from 9:30am to 4:30pm – even eating his lunch on the bike to keep going – and completed over 75 miles. This was the first event of Sean’s 2018 Superhero Challenge – a series of six events across the course of the year, ending in a 100 mile Ultramarathon.

The event was also significant as it saw the official launch of our new corporate partnership with SGR Racing – a Morpeth-based motorsport team who have offered to support MS Research and Relief Fund and will carry our logo on the side of their motorbike in the upcoming Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship.

The event was well received by all involved and has led the staff at Benmar House to investigate the possibility of adding similar events as a regular group exercise to the timetable.

We’ve put together a video featuring clips and pictures from Pedal Power, along with an interview with Steve Kinghorn of SGR Racing, talking about the new charity partnership and why he wanted to get involved, which can be viewed below.