JoG-LE 1,000

Event Diary

10th Dec 2007	Discover my employers match-funded £1,000 instead of the promised £500 upping our total to £12,595.
12th Nov 2007	Final account interest, and trickling donations up our total to £12,095.
23rd Oct 2007	Employee match funding confirmed at £500, giving a grand total of £12,075 raised for Cancer Research UK.
19th Oct 2007	Last rider sponsorship collected. Just waiting on confirmation of match-funding from work for a final total.
28th Sep 2007	Rough total of our fundraising (including Gift Aid) breaks our target, with personal sponsorship from nearly half the riders still to come in!
21st Sep 2007	News comes in that Carlton is released from hospital. Still facing several weeks of recuperation, but great news.
14th Sep 2007	Event write-up (finally) added to the report section.
12th Sep 2007	Some slected on-board video grabs added to the gallery.
7th Sep 2007	News comes in that Carlton was seriously injured in road accident, losing control after clipping a verge due to being dazzled by oncoming headlights. Our thoughts are with the "Yellow Shadow" for a speedy and full recovery. All the best, mate.
6th Sep 2007	Second wave of photos from the event added to the gallery.
2nd Sep 2007	Selected photos from the event added to the gallery.
19th Aug 2007	JustGiving site ceases accepting donations.
8th Aug 2007	Farewells and homeward bound to cash in on the pledges.
7th Aug 2007	JoG-LE 1,000 day 3 - Welsh Bicknor to Land's End. About 280 miles. Total distance covered 1,026 miles (12 more than planned!)
6th Aug 2007	JoG-LE 1,000 day 2 - Hawick to Welsh Bicknor. About 360 miles planned, but we had a little trouble finding the digs! Steve is recovered enough to start back at work - good news.
5th Aug 2007	JoG-LE 1,000 day 1 - John o' Groats to Hawick. About 370 miles.
4th Aug 2007	Team JoG-LE continue to John o' Groats. About 220 miles.
3rd Aug 2007	Team JoG-LE travel up to Pitlochry. About 320 miles.
2nd Aug 2007	Chris W runs another successful collection at the Anchor.
1st Aug 2007	Another successful bucket collection at The MFN Club, Shipley Gate.
12th Jul 2007	Successful bucket collection at The Anchor, Oakerthorpe. Almost amusing the number of people who patted jangling pockets and claimed to have no change!
8th Jul 2007	"Beauty and the Beast" wins Best Production of a Pantomime at the 2007 Derby Eagle Awards. Click here to view the Derby Evening Telegraph article.
29th Jun 2007	Heavy rain and localised flooding scuppers plans to hit a few local bike meets and "rattle tins".
18th Jun 2007	Posters drafted.
14th Jun 2007	Report page started with a few blogs.
5th Jun 2007	Third replacement rider, Carlton, comes on board.
8th May 2007	Gallery page started with a handfull of images.
6th May 2007	Met up at Oulton Park with Nick Morgan from MSS Discovery Racing. Didn't get round to a posed photo with him, due to other demands on his time I didn't get hold of him until the pit walk. However I found him a warm and friendly character and we had a good chat about JoG-LE and how the season's going for MSS.
3rd May 2007	After not hearing from him for a while, I text Steve - to discover he was badly injured in an RTA back in March when he hit a car that pulled out on him from a junction trying to cross the dual-carriageway he was riding on, and thus won't be able to make the ride. Our thoughts are with you, mate. All the best. Steve's mate, Richard, chooses to withdraw under the circumstances - a decision I fully respect.
2nd May 2007	Article published in the Nottingham Evening Post - click here to view.
27th Apr 2007	Final route with fuel/meal stops plotted. All the little twists to get into and out of towns etc. bump up the final mileage to nearly 1015.
25th Apr 2007	Another small route tweak due to being unable to reconcile some fuel stations on my GPS maps with any web-based directories.
5th Apr 2007	After chasing round all our accommodation to see if he can be squeezed in, an extra rider, Mike, comes on board - reached my limit of ten participants.
28th Mar 2007	Second replacement rider, Stewart, comes on board - back to "full" strength! He also manages to secure a support van and crew, killing two birds with one stone.
27th Mar 2007	A reorganisation at work means 100 potential redundancies in my department. Just after I've secured over £600 in pledges from my colleagues and co-workers!
23rd Mar 2007	First replacement rider, Colin, comes on board.
22nd Mar 2007	Article published in the Derby Trader - front page news!
8th Mar 2007	Article published in the Derby Evening Telegraph - click here to view. Got a few pertinent facts wrong, but "there's no such thing as bad publicity."
7th Mar 2007	Two riders, Andy and Dave, pull out. Had to wait until after the accommodation was booked, didn't they?
5th Mar 2007	All accommodation booked, the final bill coming to about half what we budgeted for, leaving us a useful surplus towards fuel.
1st Mar 2007	Subtle change in route/itinerary for Day 2 due to a change in planned accommodation.
26th Feb 2007	Sponsorship forms received from CRUK. "Hunting Season" starts!
23rd Feb 2007	First accommodation booked.
21st Feb 2007	First on-line donations are pledged.
20th Feb 2007	First business sponsor contributions arrive.
19th Feb 2007	On-line donation site at JustGiving.com launched (see the "Donate On-line" link).
15th Feb 2007	Meeting with CRUK local fundraising representitive. Some intersting ideas and approaches for sponsors suggested.
12th Feb 2007	Prospective accomodation mailshotted.
8th Feb 2007	First planning meeting convened. Outcome is positive and encouraging, with most of the participants having good ideas and/or contacts for business sponsorship.
7th Feb 2007	Bank account opened to manage event money. Initial estimate of the fuel, accommodation (and possibly van hire) costs for the event came to £5,000. In order to make the event worthwhile, a CRUK donation target of 150% of that (£7,500) was set.
5th Feb 2007	First business sponsor mailshot goes out. First (verbal) business sponsor pledge received.
26th Jan 2007	The Watson Players "Beauty and the Beast" pantomime, my mother's "legacy", starts its run.
24th Jan 2007	JoG-LE 1,000 for CRUK (this) website launched.
18th Jan 2007	I decide on the "JoG-LE 1,000" title for the event.
29th Dec 2006	Basic route finalised, 1,003 miles (according to the GPS software) using no motorway (unfortunately this does force us to negotiate the Liver-chester conurbation somehow).
20th Dec 2006	Given that best advice is not to tackle these sorts of event on your own, I broach the "End-to-End" concept with my usual "riding buddies", with encouraging feedback. Start with around a dozen interested riders, although a few pull out in the early stages, leaving us with nine: myself, Andy, Bill, Chris S, Chris W, Dave, Richard, Russ and Steve. It's decided that participants will chip in a £150 deposit each in order start the event working capital covering fuel and accommodation expenses, with the intention of pursuing business support to supplement that fund. If there is any surplus in the fund after the event, it will be donated to CRUK. If there is a shortfall, the participants will make up the difference. Participants will also fund their own main meals plus any social and other sundry expenses. Participants will then pursue "personal" backing with sponsorship forms etc., supplemented by collection boxes and on-line donations in order to raise funds for the charity.
27th Nov 2006	After a brave fight, my mother passes away.
Mid-Nov 2006	My mother's condition is diagnosed as terminal. I make the decision that I will do this event as a memorial, initially as a solo ride.
Early 2006	My mother starts her second course of chemo/radiotherapy. The idea of "End-to-Ending" for a cancer charity is born.