Raising Money For The Plymouth Soup Run

Hi, I'm Peter Gold, you may know me from work, running or cycling. Or you may even be a friend.

I've been running "competitively" since 2003; from marathons to 100 milers to multi-day ultra marathons. I did my last ultra, the infamous Spine Race and aptly known as Britain's most brutal ultra marathon, in January 2020. I then "retired" from ultras having already planned to take 2020 off from foot races to spend a year getting "bike fit". Talk about good timing! COVID then made races/events too much of a logistical nightmare for the following 2 years so I just kept on riding for fun. But travel in 2023 is looking far more straightforward so I've entered the Atlas Mountain Race (AMR).

What is the AMR?

It's a 1302km bike race with 20,200m of climbing that goes from Marrakesh through the Atlas mountains and out to the coastal city of Essaouira. It's like the Spine as in the clock starts and doesn't stop until 8 days later. We have 3 checkpoints (CP's) where we have to check in but apart from that we're on our own to find food, water and shelter. I'll be riding solo!

The race dates are February 3-11, 2023 and you can follow my dot in real time via the main website.

This is a great video to watch if you'd like to know more.

What is the soup run?

Plymouth soup run is a community and faith-driven service providing free food and hot drinks to homeless, hungry and vulnerable people 365 days a year. I work there as a volunteer supporting the needs of the people that use the service. I wrote a post about what I had learned about homelessness in my first year of volunteering.

Getting involved with Plymouth Soup Run has been fantastic for so many reasons and because of this I have decided to try and raise £1 for every kilometre of the race. I know 2023 is hard for many people, those in work and those not, so I know my target is ambitious but I want to try and give a bit more back to the organisation as a thank you for welcoming me so warmly.

If you can donate £1 or maybe even £5 that would be amazing. But no matter what financial support you can give, you can also follow my dot and send me messages of support to make sure I get to the finish line within the time cut-off time!! Every little bit helps