Back in 2013 Annie Pig had this wild idea to enter herself in the bike event ‘Action for Charity – Ride the Night’. This was a huge 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Windsor up to London and back again through the night to raise both money and awareness for female cancers, sponsored by Breast Cancer Care, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and Ovarian Cancer Action. During her training she fell ‘ill’ and discovered she was incubating a Whiffle Piglet so had to pull out of the event.
Ever determined she signed back up to take part this year and roped one of her old friends in so she wouldn’t be peddling the streets of London on her own. It was an utterly incredible experience right from the get go. The event itself was extremely well managed – buzzing with music and excitement – everyone getting free temporary tattoos and having their free photoshoot. The ride itself was spilt into waves from 21:00 until 22:30 set offs so that there was no bottle necking on the way and the weaker riders stood more of a chance of getting back before the 7am cut off point. The feed stops along the way were heaving with cakes, soups, hot drinks not to mention toilets and a Halfords team to give your bike a little tweak if needed.
The laughter, kindness and moral was evident throughout from everyone who took part and even from complete strangers cheering in the streets and handing them money. Annie Pig feasted her eyes on a range of interesting sites including the token gent vomiting outside a take away, the occasional drunken couple arguing and two tabby cats riding shot gun in a car at midnight – not to mention the glorious sight of the London Eye lit up bright pink to support them all.
Annie Pig and her loyal friend Charlie rolled across the finish line not long after 4am feeling elated and emotional. The whole event collectively raised just under £1,000,000 which is just awesome. We highly recommend taking part in this as we certainly will in the future!
Follow the link here for more information and to join us next year!