The hours in the saddle and the pain in the legs were all worth it as Brentford's trio of Football to Amsterdam Bike Riders completed their marathon two-day ride from London to the Dutch capital last weekend. Graham Goodden, Adam Rontaler, and Roy Beckerson set out from the Olympic Park on Friday, alongside hundreds of other riders, raising money for Prostate Cancer UK. It is expected that this year's ride will raise more than £500,000 to fight the disease , taking the overall total raised by the London to Amsterdam Bike Ride's alone into seven figures.
For Roy and Graham the ride was nothing new as they had completed it last year but first-time rider Adam had a special motivation for taking on the roads as his father-in-law died from the disease last year. "My motivation for doing it was because my father-in-law got prostate cancer,” said Adam. “Unfortunately he died last September and I thought what better way to remember him and raise money for prostate cancer than to do it again. Everyone knows I don’t do exercise, I’m not fit, but it’s all worth it because last year we raised £4,000 for the event and £6,000 in total. The more money we can raise and the more treatments Prostate Cancer UK can undertake will stop it in the early stages; if they can catch it early enough the survival rate is hugely increased.”
Despite pushing the pain barrier to complete the 145 mile ride Graham said his thoughts have already turned to giving it another go next year. "We have decided to make it a hat trick of rides and do it again next year before officially retiring," said Graham. "This time we want to get as many people as possible to do the ride with us for Brentford and, if at all possible, get some ex players involved. Looking at the other teams who had a large number of people doing the ride with ex players it made us want to emulate what they have achieved. A larger group helps to get people to the finish line and that all helps our end cause of raising as much money as possible for Prostate Cancer UK."
One in eight men in the UK will get Prostate Cancer at some point in their lives with death rates predicted to soar over the next decade. Every donation, no matter how big or small, will go a long way to help this charity continue doing their incredible work to improve diagnosis, treatment, patient support and, ultimately, prevent this disease from taking lives.
You can donate to the cycle challenge via virginmoneygiving.com/team/adamandgraham