A man is swapping a flight for an epic cycling adventure by riding from Eaglescliffe to Ibiza to support his local air ambulance service.
Colin Irving, 61, who lives in Eaglescliffe, will set off ahead of his family’s holiday to the Spanish island in August, and cover more than 1,000 miles to reach his destination.
Colin, who is originally from North Wales, is no stranger to a challenge, and spent most of his adult life ‘playing’ in Snowdonia.
He has completed the London Marathon seven times and clocked up 47 city-centre marathons around the world.
He later stepped up to ultra-endurance events, becoming the fifth British civilian to complete the gruelling Marathon des Sables in 1996, a six-marathon race across the Sahara Desert in five days, and did it again in 1997.
His sporting journey continued into triathlons, completing the world-renowned Ironman Lanzarote in 2006, 2007 and 2019, even taking a sabbatical from his London-based corporate career to compete at age-group level.
Colin is now retired, but does some freelance consultancy and he has continued his fitness by riding his bike, running and taking part in CrossFit.
Since moving to the North East in 2020, the family have had yearly holidays to Ibiza and, while booking their upcoming trip, Colin’s wife came up with an idea for a new challenge for him.
Colin said: “My wife announced she had booked a holiday to Ibiza in August and then announced she had only booked flights for herself and my son as she knew how much I needed a fresh adventure; so why don’t I ride there on my bike and she will join me for a cold beer at Café Mambo when I arrive.
“I loved the idea and have begun planning the adventure. Sharing this with my fellow cross fitters, they suggested I raise money for charity and that’s when I immediately thought of GNAAS.
“Playing in Snowdonia, the yellow RAF Sea King helicopter was always a sight, always coming to the aid of walkers, climbers and runners in the hills as well as sea vessels in the Irish sea, for a time Prince William was the pilot and often I shared a nod of respect to him in the mountains.
“Like the yellow Sea King of Snowdonia, GNAAS is now part of my life. I hope I never need the service, but I know how fantastic a job they do.”
Colin won’t be alone in his adventure, and will be joined by his close friend Phil Aldread, who required the services of an air ambulance after his bike slipped on leaves and he suffered a severe head injury.
Colin said: “Without the local air ambulance getting him to Stoke, where he was placed in an induced coma for two weeks, we know now he would have died.”
Phil hadn’t ridden a bike since the incident, but, after hearing about Colin’s plans, he asked to join him, and is now back in the saddle and travelling up north to train alongside his friend.
Colin recently visited GNAAS’ base in Eaglescliffe, where he toured the facilities and had the opportunity to meet the charity’s chief executive officer, Joe Garcia MBE.
He has set himself a target of raising £2500 for GNAAS and you can donate to his challenge via his JustGiving page:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/colin-irving-4