Malton woman completes charity bike ride in Jordan (From Gazette & Herald)

Angela Kirkham Raine completes charity bike ride in Jordan

10:56am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in News By Karen Darley

A MALTON businesswoman has completed a challenging bike ride to raise more than £7,000 for cancer research.

Angela Kirkham Raine had been due to take part in a bike ride along the Nile in Egypt but due to the political situation in that country, organisers transferred the 318km ride to Jordan, posing the additional challenge of a number of hills.

Angela, who runs Kirkham Henry Performing Arts Centre, said that while she had been quite happy about the location switch it did pose an additional challenge.

Angela decided to take part in the cycle challenge after her husband, John, was treated for cancer at St James’s Hospital, Hull, at the end 2010.

She said: “I wanted to do something to say thank you for the wonderful treatment he received.”

Angela said on her first day in Madaba her group had a bike fitting before setting off towards the Dead Sea with their own police escort.

“On our first day we did quite a bit of downhill,” she said. “Day two took us on a very steep climb to the mountain top town of Kerak. We had plenty of refreshment stops and a wonderful back-up team of locals who were forever mending punctures and sorting out gears.”

From Kerak they went in a coach to stay overnight near the ancient city of Petra before trekking and climbing to reach the landmark monastery.

Angela said: “The following morning we were up at the crack of dawn, to beat the heat, and set off through real Lawrence of Arabian desert.

“This day was our toughest yet. We climbed more than 2,000 feet stopping and starting after getting our breath back, with some of the more experienced younger cyclists pushing some of the team who where finding it too hard.

“That evening we camped out in a Bedouin tent, with many of us sleeping out under the stars.

“When we arrived at our hotel for the last night, the whole Yorkshire Cancer Centre team celebrated with emotions running very high,” she added. “I personally couldn’t believe I had cycled 318km.”

Angela said she had so far raised £7,010 for the Yorkshire Cancer Centre, the largest oncology unit in Europe.

“Although this was one of the toughest challenges I have ever under taken, the satisfaction, memories and sense of achievement will never be taken away,” she added.