ESSE’s Managing Director Martin Ashby and Sales Director Mark Blewitt were joined by Nick Sykes and Darren Jemison of Wolds Stoves, Driffield to cycle almost 1000 miles in just 9 days to raise money for Cancer Research.
Martin Ashby explains: “We decided to cycle from the most southerly point in the UK to the most northerly, visiting ESSE Centres along the way. We’re absolutely delighted that – thanks to everyone’s generosity – our Land’s End to John O’Groats Cycle raised in excess of £6000 for Cancer Research.
The bike ride was wonderful and we covered 950 miles in our 9 day trip through seemingly endless beautiful cities, towns, villages and countryside. Aching muscles were a small price to pay and thanks to team humour (and ibuprofen) barely noticeable.
The weather was incredibly good, we even had a tail wind on some sections, save for the final 15 miles where the strong, cold headwind provided the proverbial sting in the tail.
We want to say a big thank you to all our sponsors and the generous people we met along the way.
The team visited ESSE Centres on route including: Rangemoors, Almondsbury Forge, B&M Johnson, Ironcraft, THS Heat, Gillibrands and Kengas Stoves. They were also joined by Kate Humble for a tea break at Humble by Nature, which features an ESSE EC4i and later stopped off for a photo at Dumfries House, which is home to two ESSE stoves.The ESSE Cycle Team were joined at different points along the route by a number of ‘guest cyclists’ such as ESSE’s Technical Director Craig Nutter and Ironcraft’s Keith Butterton who helped to keep their spirits (and their speed) up. Nic Snell from Certainly Wood rode with the cyclists on Day three and helped prior to the start by sharing his own experience from the year before.
Specialist cycling shirts were supplied by Owayo Custom Sports, Cambridge.
Martin’s bike was manufactured by Hope Technology, Barnoldswick and Mark’s bike came from Ribble Cycles, Preston.
