Hi, I'm Steve, back in the middle of 2022 in a moment of madness I decided to own the MAMIL (middle-aged man in lycra) mantle and sign up to Chase the Sun, a 205-mile cycling challenge that begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. The ride starts on the east coast of England at Minster on Sea and ends on the west coast in Weston Super Mare. The challenge is simple, leave at sunrise and get to the finish line before sunset!

Fishing has an incredible capacity to connect people who would otherwise probably never have met. I decided to use my challenge as an opportunity to raise further awareness and funds to highlight the amazing work that both Tackling Minds & Phoenix Heroes carry out.

Any funds raised will be split between the two charities, Take a look below and find out more.

https://tacklingminds.org

Tackling Minds was formed in 2020 and has now established itself as the leading provider of Mental Health and Wellbeing Angling events. Our aim is to continue to provide events for people suffering from a range of issues including but not limited to Mental Health, Social Deprivation, Addiction and Recovery, Long Term Health Conditions and Disabilities.

In March 2021, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust began referring patients to Tackling minds as part of the first ever Social Prescribing scheme involving Angling. This basically means that GP’s can now prescribe fishing as an alternative to medication. As the scheme proved to be so successful, it led to an increase in demand from a large number of Clinical Commissioning Groups within the NHS and on the back of this we generated lots of national media coverage which led to an increase in demand for our service.

Tackling Minds, Angling Direct and Anglia Ruskin University have recently conducted pioneering scientific research to find the link between fishing and improved mental and physical health, and we can prove conclusively that Anglers are less likely to self-harm, report anxiety or attempt suicide. On the back of this evidence, Tackling Minds will be rolling out the first ever Mental Health intervention using fishing as a form of therapy

https://www.phoenixheroes.co.uk/

Phoenix Heroes is a non profit Community Interest Company (CIC) supporting veterans, HM Armed Forces and their families with a range of support services. One of our services is community building with our Veteran Carp Angling Community (VCAC) being a great example. Within this community we have hundreds of people around the UK coming together regularly to fish some stunning venues, this coupled with our Tackle 4 Heroes project which allows us to kit out veterans with free fishing tackle that has been donated has made this a National project. We are receiving referrals from many of the mainstream charities and members of The Confederation of Service Charities (Cobseo) and many other professional organisations. As we go into our 6th year we have some fantastic things planned for our communities throughout 2023 which is already growing at fast pace.

There will also be some amazing prizes being raffed off via our very generous sponsors Captial Carp Competitions www.competitions.online and via the app stores, who during the build-up to race day will be hosting prize draws, please check them out as there is something for everyone, especially for the keen anglers among you. As with this page, all proceeds will be donated to tackling minds and phoenix heroes.