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• Steve Godfrey

Steve and David's 100 Mile Cycle Challenge

David and Steve took on the challenge of cycling 100 miles for Orchid after they both lost their father's to prostate cancer. Here they both tell their stories about fundraising for Orchid;

Steve Godfrey

David and I have been friends for a number of years. We met through mutual friends and hit it off right from the start with the added bonus that our respective wives also get on extremely well. It wasn’t until fairly recently however that David and I have became much closer as we both realised that we had shared a very sad personal experience in that both our fathers had died from prostate cancer. My father finally passing away in November 2010 with David’s father dying several years before. It was at this time that we both decided to put something back and try and raise the profile of prostate cancer.

David and I both researched the possibility of raising money for a charity and came across your Website.

We have both been reasonably sporty throughout our lives with David concentrating on running during his earlier years, while for my sins, I completed in racket sports and mountain biking before moving onto triathlons, which is where the road cycling bit comes in.

Having entered the Orchid 100 we both signed up to a respective training programmes, turned up on the day with one of my bother-in-laws (John Hind) who was foolish enough to enter as well and completed the ride.

David and I are quite determined individuals when we set our mind to something and so decided to try and make a positive contribution to your charity. We are both lucky to have extremely supportive friends and so, by gentle persuasion for the most part but in some cases by some quite severe bullying, we managed to get people to pledge up to a figure of £2,200.00. Having completed the ride, we are now in the process of collecting the money.

 On a more personal note, I miss my father every day that he is no longer with us. He was such a strong powerful man all his life until he developed a very aggressive form of prostate cancer which quickly became bone cancer from which there was no turning back from the inevitable. My father could be best described as an ‘old fashion gentleman’. He gave me the opportunity to achieve all that I have in life and I will never forget what he did for me through all his hard work but also by his example. He leaves a wife who was also devoted to him for over 60 years. His life and his death should not be in vain and so if I can just help a little in the fight against this ‘silent’ killer and I am more than happy to do so.
 

David Padfield

 In my early 50’s I gave up running but I was undecided as to what could fill the void that running had left. After a few years I decided to give mountain biking a go and eventually persuaded my wife to go on a cycling holiday in France for 10 days last September. The French are really into road bikes and after experiencing them hurtling past me I decided to give it a go.

Last year just before my 60^th birthday I bought myself a road bike and set about cycling our local area.In November of that same year my pal Steve lost his father to prostate cancer. I had lost my father to the same disease some 5 years earlier. I have always wanted to do something for my father and having seen OrchidCycle Essex 2011 100 miles advertised in the Bike Events magazine I suggested to Steve that we do it and he agreed.

I began training early March and by May I felt confident enough to have a go at a 60 mile organised event. The last ten miles were very tough and I realised that I needed to work very hard to have any chance of completing the Orchid event.

On the day I was apprehensive given my experience with the 60 mile event only weeks earlier. But thankfully the training paid off. I paced myself carefully because I wanted to make sure I finished but I was fine, albeit not with a great time.

It has been a fantastic experience raising sponsorship for Orchid. So far myself and Steve have raised a total of £2,260. This total far exceeded any expectations we had and the generosity of our friends and family has been overwhelming.

If you think that cycling for charity is something you would be interested in then sign up to OrchidCycle New Forest 2011 in September. Steve and David have shown that anyone can do it and raise much needed funds for research into male specific cancers.