Westfield Health’s chair starting blocks challenge…

To support the Starting Blocks Challenge, Westfield Health Chair Steve Purdham decided to ride from Infinity to Beyond… or at least as far as the 135 miles from his home to North Wales! Steve explains why he took on this particular challenge and why he’s supporting Dame Kelly Holmes Trust.

“My starting block moment happened when I was 14 and I was given a book about computers and that was the catalyst that started my focus on a career in technology. It was a simple book explaining how to make your own ‘mechanical’ computer with cogs and it sparked the initial love for all things technological. That location is 135 miles away from where I now live and so the challenge was born of cycling at least 135 miles over two days to support Dame Kelly Holmes Trust.

135 miles happens to be the same distance from our home to Abersoch in North Wales where our family spends many summers. So doing the cycle down the North Wales Coast seemed like a good idea. The trip was planned for two days with the objective of doing between 70-100 miles on day one and the rest on day two.

The first day turned out to be a perfect cycling day – if you exclude the two hours of torrential rain we had at the start - but there was no wind and once the sun broke through the sky it was a fabulous ride. A friend, Mark Boyd, joined me after 20 miles, along with Nigel Spencer in our support vehicle. There was a fabulous ride through Delamere Forest and an equally fabulous journey along the Chester Greenway to Connahs Quay where we joined the coast ride at Prestatyn all the way to Bangor. As we were making great progress we just pushed on, I lost my side kick to a bar at 98 miles but I continued on to Bangor, finishing the day with 108 miles under my belt.

Unfortunately the second day was a total contrast! We only had 35miles to do from Tesco in Bangor to Abersoch, but the rain was torrential, and the wind was straight in our faces the whole way. Joined by Mark Boyd, my brother in law Bryn and his son Iori we braved the elements but the wind, rain and fatigue from day one made this a gruelling last leg. Despite the weather, the route was scenic, going through cycleways along the Menai Straights to Caernarfon and cycling alongside narrow gauge steam engines made it a positive ride despite the wind and rain.”

“Westfield Health’s whole purpose is to make a difference to people’s lives each day, we look for how we can be the catalyst for change and offer scale and sustainability in the area of health and well-being so it was a natural fit to support Dame Kelly Holmes Trust. Once we had made the commitment as a company, it felt right as Chair of Westfield Health to also set an example and provide personal support and do my own challenge.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of the young people Westfield Health support, and this led to lots of emotions: pride, energy, passion, pleasure, awe. It was great to see the mentors and hearing their own stories and seeing how the ripple effect of their support was making a massive difference to young people’s lives but the young people were the stars of the day. Each had their own story to tell, each had historical and future challenges but the core reality was that people being interested in them and the approach taken with them had given them a chance to look forward in a more positive way and felt that they had been ‘given’ the tools to face the future.”

Everyone at the Trust would like to say a huge thank you to Steve and friends for undertaking this challenge. At the time of writing, Steve has raised an amazing £2379 for the Trust, you can view his fundraising page here.

If you would like to take on a Starting Blocks Challenge of your own, you can visit our dedicated website for inspiration and to set up your own fundraising page.