Pedal power: Cyclists taking on 720km ride raise over £65k

Pedal power: Cyclists taking on 720km ride raise over £65k

24 October 2019

Christine O’Connell, 46, from Fulham, is living with incurable secondary breast cancer – a condition that kills thousands of women in the UK every year.

Determined to support further research, Christine set up a remarkable cycling campaign – One More City – which sees dozens of fundraisers pedal from city to city each year.

The campaign aims to raise £80,000 for Imperial Health Charity to fund additional research led by specialists at Hammersmith Hospital.

On 4 October, Christine and the One More City team, set off from Amsterdam and pedalled 720 kilometres over four days before reaching their destination in Strasbourg on Monday 7 October. It marks the third step in the campaign’s “never-ending” journey after a team cycled from London to Paris in 2017 and then from Paris to Amsterdam last year.

Christine O’Connell said: “The ethos of One More City is that the journey is never over. We are always progressing towards the next city, there are always more climbs to conquer and more challenges to face. Just like anyone living with secondary breast cancer, for whom the challenge is never over – there are always more treatments to endure, more scans to face, more side effects to manage.”

The money raised from the One More City campaign will be donated to Imperial Health Charity in order to fund an additional PhD student supporting a team of breast surgeons, oncologists and scientists at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Christine added: “Early diagnosis provides the best chance for survival as the disease is curable in most people at this stage. However, an estimated 20 to 30 per cent of primary cancers spread to other organs, and at this point the cancer is no longer curable. Those diagnosed with secondary cancer will spend the rest of their lives on some form of treatment.”

One More City is generously supported by Rapha and managed by Velusso Cycling.

To support Christine and the One More City team, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/onemorecity

Pictures credited to Dan Glasser.