Climb Mont Ventoux to cure Follicular Lymphoma!

Friends and family, we are about to attempt to climb Mont Ventoux as many times as possible in one day - and we’d love your support in raising money for a charity that means a lot to us. Here’s why:

This time last year, Jenny and Eilidh launched a charity campaign as they moved into the final month of training to run 154km along the West Highland Way. As we ran, we envisaged doing another big challenge in 2022.

The day after we completed the run, as we woke up in Fort Augustus, we found out that Eilidh’s 25-year-old cousin, Andrew - an elite 800m athlete - had been diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma, which is an incurable form of blood cancer. We decided our next challenge would be in aid of a dedicated charity - the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation.

This year, Andrew’s sister, Kirsten and our power house of a friend Anna Thomas are joining us to cycle as many times as possible up Mont Ventoux in one day. The date is set for July 23, and the four of us along with a group of friends and family are all going to attempt all or some of the three climbs to the summit of the famous Tour de France mountain. Many of us are former athletes, and the focus of the challenge goes beyond performance: it’s about turning up and giving everything we have on the day, whatever the pace, however long we manage.

While we’ve been training, so has Andrew. In January, after six months of chemo, he achieved remission. He has now launched a YouTube channel charting his attempt to return to the same level of fitness as pre-diagnosis. His athlete’s mindset has been key to achieving remission and continuing to get stronger as he recovers. But currently there is no permanent cure - and that’s what the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation is trying to change.

Our aim is to beat last year’s total of £3,000 and raise as much money to find a cure for Follicular Lymphoma as possible.