Students Cycle length of Britain for charity

Brasenose students Sarah-Jane Cooper-Knock, HCR President, and Jenny Foreman, a 4th-year undergraduate Physicist, cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats this summer in aid of the Anthony Nolan Trust. Following a marginal set-back of a Jenny's broken metatarsal, the pair set off on 13th September 2009. Sporting their Brasenose lycra, they finished the trip in 11 1/2 days.

Sarah-Jane suggested LE-JOG as the next big challenge for the pair, who hung up their oars at the end of last year: a fact that Jenny would highlight at the bottom of every hill en-route. Not content with the 854 miles that the journey takes at its most direct, Jenny and Sarah-Jane decided to take the 'scenic route', which totalled close to 1000 miles in all.

Tackling the steep climbs of Cornwall and the slow slopes of Scotland, they were sustained by an unhealthy number of Fruit Pastels, improvised "Odes to Vaseline" that would make Ale Verse aficionados proud, and the knowledge that their trip was raising money for the Anthony Nolan Trust.

The Anthony Nolan Trust works to encourage people in the UK to volunteer as bone marrow donors and helps those in need of a donor to find their match. Sadly, Jenny and Sarah-Jane were only too aware of the importance of its work. In 2006, Jenny's cousin Jo received a stem cell transplant and Matt Carver, a member of Brasenose College Boat Club, spent much of 2008 battling leukaemia. Tragically, neither Matt nor Jo survived. It is in memory of Jo and Matt that SJ and Jenny are encouraging both donations to the charity and registration on the bone marrow donor register.

Originally, they had aimed to raise £1 per mile for the charity but with the generosity of family and friends, they managed to raise over £1300 in total. They would like to give a special thanks to members of the college: the staff, SCR, HCR and JCR who were so encouraging in words and sponsorship throughout.

You can support SJ and Jenny by donating online at: http://www.justgiving.com/SPARTACUSii/

Find Out More

• Anthony Nolan Trust
• Bone Marrow Register

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