May 10, 2012, by David Greenaway

Life Cycle 2

‘So, what’s next then?’

That was my most frequently asked question after riding 1,030 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End (JoGLE).

In truth, I had already begun thinking about another challenge the day we completed Life Cycle 1. That was last September. I did not approach the other riders until November!

So, here we go again. This time the ride will be from Cape Wrath to Dover, from the farthest point in north-west to the south easterly tip of mainland Britain. It will be about 1,100 miles – longer than JoGLE and since we are coming down the west side of Scotland, more demanding, both in terrain and probable weather conditions.

Why take on another marathon ride and for what purpose?

JoGLE was immensely rewarding: in part a direct consequence of taking on and completing the challenge of cycling over 1,000 miles; but also because it was a shared experience, which made it all the more satisfying. But that satisfaction was as nothing compared to the level of engagement and interest which JoGLE stimulated and the funds it raised. Between us we generated almost a quarter of a million pounds for research on palliative and end of life care.

That is why we are taking on another ride and one that has to be a bit longer and a bit tougher.

The ‘we’ this time includes nine of the JoGLE team (me, Karen Cox, Chris Jagger, Nick Miles, Andy Noyes, Kate Robertson, Chris Rudd, Steve Wright and Neville Wylie) and three new riders: Mike Carr (Director of Business Engagement and Innovation Services); Penelope Griffin (Head of Widening Participation); and Gavin Scott (Environmental Manager). Three of last year’s fabulous Support Team will be with us again – Simon Hopkins, Paul Barrett and Ed Potter – and they will be joined by Becky Blunden from the Events Team.

A very successful and enjoyable element of JoGLE was the Community Ride from University Park to Sutton Bonington, which attracted around 150 riders. We will have another Community Ride this year, on Sunday September 2^nd, starting and ending at University Park. Since not everyone wants to get on two wheels, we will also have a Community Walk around the Park that day.

Last year a number of colleagues joined us for specific legs, most notably from Retford to Sutton Bonington which was completed by 25 others. We hope to be joined by even more leg riders this year.

This time we will ride for Nottingham Potential, a package of measures intended to use education to help deal with disadvantage.

As I noted in an earlier blog, too few young people from disadvantaged backgrounds make their way into further and higher education. We can do something about that by providing entrants from low income families with bursaries and scholarships. But we need to do more for those who do not get that far. That involves building on the outreach and summer school work we have done, making use of the new Nottingham Potential Centres where we collaborate with IntoUniversity in working with children as young as eight years old, and building on early successes at the Nottingham University Samworth Academy.

Education does have the power to transform and the more resource we can generate for bursaries and outreach activity, the bigger the impact we can have. I am confident this cause will inspire many to support us, and that our ride from Cape Wrath to Dover will ultimately raise even more than our ride from John O’Groats to Lands End.

You can read more at Nottingham Life Cycle 2

Professor David Greenaway

Vice-Chancellor

 

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