Graphic Designer Stuart Hill triumphantly completed the epic Deloitte Ride Across Britain on Sunday 13th September. Having cycled 980 miles across 27 counties, he has raised – so far – a magnificent £2,975 for Prostate Cancer UK.

Stuart recounts: “Having had a few days rest I am now back in the saddle, commuting to work again, after successfully completing the Deloitte Ride Across Britain. One of the things that amazed me most was the scale of the event. For nine days I was part of a gigantic peloton of nearly a thousand riders, hundreds of staff, support vehicles, tents and supplies, steadily rolling our way from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

The second thing that impressed me were the Cairngorms. I was really looking forward to riding through this part of Scotland and it didn’t disappoint. Conditions were perfect as I entered the National Park, the sun was shining and I had time to admire giant shadows drifting silently across this other-worldly landscape. Not that I paid much notice once the Glenshee started to bite, all I could do was focus on the cowbells encouraging me to the summit. A victorious climb of the Lecht the following day was the last major obstacle between me and John O’Groats.

Or so I thought. A strong westerly cross-wind picked up and battered us for the next hundred or so miles, which made for nail-biting riding. With some riders making the heart-breaking decision to abandon, so close the finish. However, when we finally changed tack, the wind that had assaulted us for so long now propelled me towards the finish and I rode my fastest 100 miles on the last day!

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has donated and all of my sponsors; especially Urban Edge Architecture who have supported me from start to finish.”

Stuart cycled for nine days back-to-back, covering over 100 miles a day through some of the most beautiful and challenging landscape this country has to offer, climbing the height of Everest roughly 1.6 times. His fundraising page is open until December, so if you would like to help him break £3,000, please donate on his virgin money giving page below.

The Urban Edge Foundation Celebrity Golf Day 2019 raised a wonderful £11,231 for cancer charity Prostate Cancer UK.

Stars from the worlds of sport and entertainment turned out on 14th May to support the annual event at the stunning Moor Park Golf Club, Rickmansworth, raising money and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK.

Explains Russell Gay, Director at Urban Edge: “One day I bumped into an old friend I hadn’t seen for a while and whilst we were chatting, I found out he was recovering from prostate cancer. Steve’s story was such a wake-up call that I decided that Prostate Cancer UK would be our next Golf Day beneficiary.”

Celebrity participants included Simon Spooner, MasterChef, with the world of football kicking of with Ossie Ardiles, Lee Bradbury, John Lacey, Steve Lomas, Graham Rix, Graham Roberts, Steve Sedgely, Ricky Villa, and Paul Walsh. Rugby union was represented by Saracens’ Kristian Chesney, Martin Gregory and Adrian Olver, whilst cricket fielded Phillip DeFreitas and Dean Headley.

After a bacon roll breakfast, 16 teams, each with a celebrity player, teed off to play the gorgeous 18-hole course. Halfway drinks were sponsored by Greenhatch and prizes were given for longest drive and closest to the pin on all par 3s, with the overall winners being the team from Farrow Walsh. The day was rounded off with a delicious dinner and silent and live auctions, which raised even more funds for the charity.

Continues Russell: “Our thanks go to all of our sponsors and participants who so kindly gave their time and support for the event. Especially Ady from Ace Golf Challenge who raised £500 doing trick shots on the 4th hole. We’ll be raising more money for Prostate Cancer UK, with one of our graphic designers, Stuart Hill, cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats later this year.”

This is the third Urban Edge Foundation Celebrity Golf Day, with previous events raising thousands of pounds for Alzheimer’s UK and local charity #teamgeorge, which funded a new carbon fibre wheelchair for George Robinson who suffered a life changing tetraplegic spinal injury in July 2015 playing rugby for his school.

Prostate Cancer UK has a simple ambition – to stop men dying from prostate cancer. In addition to raising awareness and providing support for men and their families facing the cancer, the charity invests millions of pounds in research to find better treatments and better tests that can spot fast-growing cancers early, and could be used in a screening programme to save thousands of lives.

For more information including how to donate, please visit the Prostate Cancer UK website or alternatively click the donate button below.

Cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats is one of the biggest challenges in amateur cycling. This September, Stuart will join around 1000 other riders for the Deloitte Ride Across Britain. Cycling for nine days back-to-back, covering 980 miles of the most beautiful and scenic landscape accessible on two wheels and climbing the height of Everest roughly 1.6 times, you can follow his training progress on the Urban Edge Architecture twitter account.

Preparations are well underway, with Stu cycling at least 150 miles a week, most of which come from his 25 mile round trip commute to work in Stamford. Although he aims to get in some century rides before the big event.

“I was a fairly keen cyclist before I signed up for the Ride Across Britain. However, the furthest distance I have ridden previously was 350 miles from North Wales to Norfolk. So, cycling 980 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats is going to be a real challenge. I will be riding in memory of my uncle David who recently passed away, after a short battle with cancer. He was a keen cyclist and loved to ride his Dawes touring bike around the Norfolk coast.” Explains Stuart.

The majority of RAB riders use this challenge as a chance to raise money for charity and Stuart is no exception. He is working alongside the Urban Edge Foundation to raise at least £2,200 for Prostate Cancer UK. Prostate cancer accounts for 26% of all new cancer cases in males in the UK so it is vitally important that research, awareness and support is funded to help those affected. For personal contributions please click the button below. All donations are hugely appreciated for this life saving cause!

The Urban Edge Foundation Celebrity Golf Day 2018 raised a wonderful £15,124 for dementia charity, the Alzheimer’s Society.

Coinciding with Dementia Action Week, the celebrity event took place on 15th May 2018 at the lovely Moor Park Golf Club, Rickmansworth, and attracted celebrities from the worlds of sport, comedy and entertainment.

Our thanks go to all participants, including actor Kevin Whately, footballers Brian Stein, Paul Walsh, Graham Roberts, John Lacey and Paul Miller, cricketers Owais Shah and Dean Headley, rugby player Gregg Botterman and comedian Adger Brown.

By 2021, over a million people will be living with dementia. The Alzheimer’s Society is a national charity whose mission is to transform the landscape of dementia forever. As well as researching possible cures for the heart-breaking disease, the Alzheimer’s Society strives to create a society where those affected by dementia are supported and accepted.

For more information including how to donate, please visit the Alzheimer’s Society website.

Dave Frost, Senior Associate Director at Urban Edge Architecture, has completed all eight stages of the Cycle to MIPIM Northern Power-Leg, raising £2,635 for Club Peloton’s chosen charity, Coram.

Despite being a relatively new recruit to cycling (since August last year), Dave took part in Legal & General’s inaugural Northern Power-Leg (5-6 March), riding for a total of 19 hours from Leeds to London. Originally planned to cover 350 kilometres, the final distance became 395k as the challenging weather conditions made the higher sections of the route too dangerous to use, so diversions had to be put in place.

Explains Dave: “It was a tough challenge, both physically and mentally. When you’ve been in the saddle for seven hours already that day and it’s so cold, you can’t tell the difference between rain and sleet, it’s only the companionship of the group that kept me going – and knowing how much people have promised to donate to the children if I finished.”

To date Dave has raised £2,635 (with more promised) for Coram, a charity founded in 1739 which helps more than one million vulnerable children each year.

Photo Copyright © Joolze Dymond | www.joolzedymond.com

The inaugural Urban Edge Foundation Celebrity Golf Day 2017 took place on Tuesday 16th May at Moor Park Golf Club, Rickmansworth and we were delighted to choose #teamgeorge as our sole beneficiary.

Thanks to the generous support of all of the participants, including celebrities such as Dean Headley, Chris Hollins, John Inverdale, Ossie Ardiles, Mark Falco, John Solako, Ricky Villa, Micky Hazard, John Lacy, Leon Lloyd, Ben Ransom, Graham Roberts, Clive Allen and David Ajala, we were able to raise over £10,000 to assist George Robinson’s continuing rehabilitation.

On 27th July 2015 George incurred a life changing spinal injury while playing rugby in South Africa on a school rugby tour. After many months in hospital and lots of gruelling rehabilitation he finally returned to school where he continued to study and sit his A levels. George is now a first year student at Birmingham University and he is determined to achieve great things.

To find out more about George please visit the #teamgeorge website.

Urban Edge architect and demon cyclist, Tim Crone has raised £5,065 for the children’s charity Coram by completing the 1,500km Cycle to MIPIM 2017 peloton ride from London to Cannes.

Organised by Club Peloton, the event saw 200 real estate and built environment professionals ride a total of 1,500kms over six days, in a relay format, from London to the MIPIM real estate conference in Cannes. Along the way, they raised a glorious total of £612,617 for several worthwhile charities, including the main Club Peloton charity, Coram.

Explains Tim: “I wanted to do something that was a physical and mental challenge, and Cycle to MIPIM was certainly that. There were low days – riding 211 miles in 14 hours was the longest of several long days for me, but the feeling of camaraderie and achieving something exceptional together was unmissable.”

Having set his personal goal of 1,000km over six days, Tim designed his own training regime to make sure he was in peak condition when the event kicked off in London on 9th March 2017. Starting each weekday with a gentle 6am alarm call and a one hour turbo session before work, with a variety of real-world runs on the weekend, Tim worked steadily to improve his fitness and stamina, including punishing VO₂ max, or maximal oxygen uptake, workouts and regular FTP, or Functional Threshold Power, tests.

But one burning question could only be answered during the event itself: “How will my posterior cope with 8 hours in the saddle each day?”

In the end, Tim completed the Cycle to MIPIM in fine style, not only delighted with his cycling performance, but also with his achievement of finishing 13th on the fundraising leaderboard.

When asked about his best memory of the event, Tim replied: “The view of the coastline with almost the whole of the 200 strong grand Peloton in front of me, sweeping down into Cannes was amazing. Although having the rush hour traffic stopped in Dijon whilst we rode through was almost as good.”