Thatcham cyclists raise thousands for Vodafone French Alps challenge

Three cyclists from Thatcham have completed a charity challenge in the French Alps.

The trio joined 37 others in the Vodafone Foundation's YourPlanet Campaign cycle from Grenoble to Nice.

The five day trek from September 7 – September 11 saw Teresa Robbins, Graham Stent and Mark Chance push themselves to their limits for charities The Big Ocean Clean Up and Tusk Trust.

The colleagues rode around 520km in temperatures varying from 20 to 10 degrees celsius, stopping every two hours to top up on water and snacks.

Vodafone employee Ms Robbins has so far raised £2,000 with friends Mr Chance and Mr Stent following closely behind. She said Vodafone has been match funding and double match funding bringing her total raised closer to £6,000.

She said: “All but one completed it. It was tough, tougher than I expected but they call it the epic challenge.

“Everyone struggles with different things and we have different areas of experience and for me it was the day after day endurance. On the last day we were all very tired.”

Mrs Robbins, who is also a keen skier said: “It was a surprise to me that I struggled with altitude, on the last one I needed medical attention.”

But she said the experience was "incredible".

“Other than Mark and Graham, we didn’t all know the others well so we wanted to meet other people, and take the challenge on together," she added.

“It was nice to meet like-minded people and bond as a team. It was incredible. We all looked out for each other and it wasn’t like a competition, we were making sure everybody completed it.”

Mrs Robbins said it was nice to raise funds and awareness for these international charities.

“These ocean clean ups are vital," she added. "We often go to the beach and you see litter. This is not going away and it needs cleaning up.”

Ms Robbins is still raising money online and donations can be made on her JustGiving page.