Sixty-one-year-old Robert Groves from East Sussex, became paralysed from the waist down ten years ago, aged 50, following a tragic accident. Having been an avid cyclist and active individual, Robert didn’t let his disability deter him, and has been taking on a number of challenges to raise both money and awareness for spinal injury charities.
Amongst these challenges include hand-cycling from London to Brighton, a 24-hour endurance race at Thruxton motor circuit, where he qualified to race across America in 2018, and hand-cycling from Scotland to London in 2014, travelling over 600 miles and raising £12,000 for charity.
His latest challenge is no exception in difficulty, as he has taken on the English coastline via hand-cycle, travelling over 2,000 miles in total.
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Starting on July 2 and spreading the challenge out across 27 days throughout July, Robert has been hand-cycling the coast of England with an estimated mile count of 2,500.
As well as raising money and awareness for spinal injury charities, something close to his heart, Robert also has a passion for protecting marine life and the world’s oceans. As part of the challenge, Robert has been raising money for three charities: Spinal Injury Association (SIA), The Cycling Project and Sea Shepherds. During his 2,500-mile journey, Robert is aiming to arrive at No. 10 Downing Street at the end of the challenge with approximately 100,000 signatures from the public and schools he has been visiting along the way, in a petition to present to the Conservative government, encouraging them to support saving the oceans, which are suffering due to pollution and climate change.
Speaking of his challenge, Robert wrote on his Just Giving page: “My aim is to demonstrate what a disabled hand-cyclist can do, to raise awareness of hand-cycling as a sport here in the UK, and to raise awareness through education in our schools of our dying oceans.”
Robert hopes to present the petition at 10 Downing Street on July 28, after he completes the final leg of his challenge here.
He added: “This is a tough challenge, but a fabulous way to see the country and coastline, and one of the most rewarding things I will ever do!”
Robert has been undertaking approximately 85 miles a day, totalling to 2,500 miles overall.
On Robert’s tenth day of the challenge, on Tuesday, July 11, he undertook the St Agnes to Tintagel route, and recently passed through Bude on his way from Tintagel to Ilfracombe on Wednesday, July 12, where he would go on to Weston-Super-Mare the following day.
To find out more about Robert’s coastal challenge, visit www.hand-cycling.co.uk/detailed-itinerary. To sign Robert’s Saving our Oceans petition, which will be presented to Theresa May, Prime Minister, at Downing Street on July 28, visit www.change.org/p/saving-our-oceans.