On the day of the summer solstice, as temperatures soared, a group of cyclists from Bishop Monkton chased the sun across the breadth of the country to raise money for two cancer charities. It was a ride of 200 miles. This website is very proud to be able to post their story, written in their own words, and to include a link for donations to these very worthwhile causes.

They write:-

“Bishop Monkton Next Challenge Cycling Club “Chased The Sun” again for charity.

When two of our wives were diagnosed with cancer and a brain tumour the group decided it wanted to support the associated charities. And so began another epic challenge, a really tough day, digging deep and battling both body and mind to simulate the struggles that people face daily while battling cancer and brain tumours. It was the least we could do.

Well, we did it! We “Chased The Sun” from Whitley Bay at 04:45 to Ayr, 200 miles, 3800 meters of accent and all in a day. We set off to an amazing sunrise and worked our way towards Ayr, racing the sun. We had midges galore at Kielder Water, temperatures of 30 degrees and torrential downpours just past Lockerbie. We won’t lie, it was incredibly tough at times. But we dug in and arrived at Ayr at 19:29 to a fanfare of cowbells and bagpipes.

We were spurred on by the knowledge that this was to raise funds for two wonderful charities, Brain Tumour Research and Cancer Research. At the time of writing we are at over £4,200, thank you all for your kind support, it is truly humbling and appreciated. We will keep the fundraising page open for a couple more weeks if anyone would like to donate please click.

This isn’t the first time that the group have “Chased The Sun” for fantastic causes; they undertook the Italy CTS in 2023 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and raised over £7,500.

The Bishop Monkton Next Challenge Cycling Club are now contemplating a name change, dropping Club and replacing it with Team, to represent the teamwork involved in these epic fundraising challenges.

Thank you.”

The first "Chase the Sun" event was a long-distance cycling challenge which began in 2008 when three cyclists set out to ride across the UK from sunrise to sunset on the longest day of the year, an idea that has since grown into an annual charitable event with various routes and locations worldwide.

On behalf of the website team may we offer a huge round of applause and many many congratulations to the group, extending our good wishes to all members of their families.