Cyclists meet one of Britain's Olympic legends on their John O'Groats to Lands End charity ride

The JOGLE 23 crew, who include Tom Graham from Claverley, were joined on one of the legs of their 10 day, 1,000 mile challenge by non other than Sir Chris Hoy.

The track cycling legend swopped to a road bike to ride with the crew for about three hours on Thursday .

It was a huge boost to the team, with another being their arrival in Shropshire on Friday to be greeted by their families.

The riders, Henry Deakin, Tom Graham, James Fenwick, Scott Richardson Brown, Mark Whittaker, Mark Skipp, Tom Osbourne, Boudewijn Verhelst and Charlie Ferrier, are cycling the length of Britain to raise funds for Parkinson's UK.

Henry said: "We initially planned to get underway in May 2020 but Covid-19 put pay to that, and then our postponed ride was again cancelled in 2021 as the virus made a comeback. So here we are in 2023 with a larger team of riders, more determined than ever to complete the challenge.

Many of the riders have family members who have Parkinson's including Henry's father, David, one of those at the family reunion on Friday.

In 2007, Henry’s father David was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and as a jeweller for many years, the tremors made it impossible to continue working.

"He gallantly deals with everything the disease is throwing at him. It is very hard to watch him suffer every day. We have seen first-hand the good that comes from the Parkinson’s UK charity and the NHS," Henry said.

In 2015, David had a life-changing operation called Deep Brain Stimulation to help control some motor symptoms.

"A surgeon placed thin metal wires in his brain and these wires send electrical pulses to the brain to help control his shakes. We have no doubt, while it was not a cure, it changed his life and gave him better control of his tremors. He went from shaking uncontrollably and being unable to hold a knife and fork, or write with a pen, to being able to do basic day-to-day tasks. DBS is not a cure and does not stop Parkinson’s from progressing, but it has given him a much greater quality of life than we thought possible. We want DBS to be available to more people diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease."

Tom’s father Alan was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015, which increasingly affected his mobility and quality of life, robbing him of his independence. He later developed Parkinson's-related dementia, and sadly lost his battle in July 2021.

Mark Whittaker's father-in-law, Derek Perks, passed away due to several Parkinson's related conditions.

"Watching the rapid decline of proud and formerly active people was heart-breaking for their family."

"Boudewijn Verhelst is member of the board of directors of a private foundation based in Belgium which shares our goal to find a cure for Parkinson’s."

All the costs associated with the trip are being met by the JOGLE team, so all donations will go to Parkinson's UK projects.

Henry said that the 600 miles ridden so far had been incredible hilly.

But he said the morale in the team was amazing.

"Meeting with Sir Chris Hoy gave us such a boost. He cycled with every member of the crew in the three hours he was with us. Most of us struggled to keep up with him and a couple that did their best to do so are really struggling now."

As well as the hills, hitting Bolton in rush hour also proved a test and Henry said the team had also been through 24 inner tyres, four actual tyres, pain killers - and tubs of cream for the chaffing.

But he said arriving at the pub in Shropshire to see everyone's families there was just what had been needed.

"Seeing my father there to greet us was a very special moment," he said.

"We have almost hit the £80,000 mark in our fundraising and we are determined to get to £100,000."

Anyone wanting so donate to the fundraising challenge can do so online at justgiving.com/fundraising/henry-deakin.