Our charity bike ride, the Steel Valley Ride, took place on Saturday 14th July 2018.
The riders have completed their 31 mile challenge and the event signs have been collected in, so all that remains now is for us to tell you a little more about the day and how much money you helped to raise.
On the day…
Firstly, massive thanks must go to Trek Sheffield who gave up part of their shop on Saturday to host our Event HQ. They made us feel welcome with day-long access to tea and the Mountain Biking World Cup Downhill event streaming on tv!
Just under 90 riders completed the gruelling Steel Valley Ride in sunny conditions and soaring temperatures.
Some finished in an impressive 3-4 hours, whereas others made use of the whole day. Everybody deserves massive congratulations for fulfilling their own challenge whether it was to finish quickly – or just finish, push their daily mileage or raise money for charity.
However, a special mention must go to one lady who entered on her own after stopping smoking and starting mountain biking only 5 months before completing the Steel Valley Ride. She dug deep during the ride and refused to give up, inspiring many people on Saturday.
Back at Event HQ, whilst the riders were out on the moors we asked Stocksbridge Mayor, Cllr Julie Grocutt, to draw the two winners for the Bontrager Flat Line shoes (donated by Trek Sheffield for the first 50 entrants) and the £50 Trek Voucher (donated by Stocksbridge Town Council for the first 100 entrants).
Congratulations go to Jonathan Lambert who won the shoes and Rachel Young who won the voucher.
However, everybody received a little something on the day as all returning riders were given a free water bottle, donated by Trek Sheffield. With such high temperatures, many waived their complementary hot drink and made use of this instead.
Big thanks to all our volunteer marshals who were located at Event HQ, around the route and at the feed station. They helped to make the event such a huge success. We received many positive comments from people about our marshals when they returned from their ride or later on social media, some of which can be read at the end of this post.
Event photographs taken on the route can be found here: https://www.sportsunday.co.uk/
Raising funds for charity…
We run the Steel Valley Ride to raise awareness of the Steel Valley Project and let people know about the countryside management work we undertake in the local area. We also use the event to raise valuable funds to help us continue with ongoing projects in the area.
However, this year was extra special!
The Steel Valley Ride route goes over the iconic Cut Gate bridleway in the northern Peak District. Cut Gate is considered to be one of the best mountain bike routes in the country, but has short sections of muddy bogs – known locally as the ‘Bog of Doom’ (although to be fair, the sunny conditions over recent weeks have made the BOG more of a desert).
A local group comprising Peak District MTB, Ride Sheffield, the Peak District National Park Authority and Moors for the Future worked hard to get the repair of Cut Gate included on the British Mountaineering Council’s Mend Our Mountains campaign this year – and we wanted to support this campaign by donating a proportion of the entry fees.
We’re therefore pleased to announce that £468 will be going to Mend Our Mountains.
Big thanks to our event partners and supporters..
An event like this would be impossible to run without support from local businesses and people in the community. Thank you to everyone who helped us out, whether directly or indirectly through sharing our social media posts.
However, particular thanks must go to the following:
Trek Sheffield: for their support throughout the event (helping with the promotional video, donating a prize draw for the first 50 entrants, donating free water bottles for all participants, hosting the Event HQ and offering post ride refreshments)
Liberty Speciality Steels: who provided free car parking for all event participants
Dransfield Properties Ltd: who provided free car parking in Fox Valley for the event volunteers
Stocksbridge Town Council: who donated £50 (given as a prize draw for the first 100 entrants)
Ride Sheffield, Peak District MTB, Keeper of the Peak: who helped massively with promotion of the event in the local mountain biking community
Ride Holme Guides: for being the route sweeper, clearing the course of direction signs and providing morale support for riders towards the back of the bunch
Extra special thanks go to our volunteer event marshals on the day. You all helped to give the riders taking part a great experience and played a huge part in making the event so successful.
Some of the event feedback…
We’ll finish this post with just a few of the lovely comments we received after the event:
“Absolutely brilliant ride.”
“The hills were very hard work but the amount of variation in terrain, signposting, friendly marshals, feed stop and organisation were brilliant.”
“Many thanks to all involved. Great route and the halfway flapjacks and water were sublime.”
“Big thanks for putting on the Steel Valley Ride today. It was very tough but really well organised. The guys at the feed station couldn’t do enough for us.”
“Thanks for a well organised route today. Great directions and well stocked refreshments, just when they were needed.”
“Great ride, thanks a lot to all involved.”
Keeping in touch…
For more information on the conservation and countryside management work we carry out in the Stocksbridge and north Sheffield area, keep an eye on our website www.steelvalleyproject.org
We also post regularly on our social media channels:
Like our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheSteelValleyProject
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/steel_valley
Any future events will be posted on our main website, Facebook, Twitter and our Instagram feed:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesteelvalleyproject
See here for more information about volunteering with The Steel Valley Project.
