Intrepid Ella, our Atworth nursery manager, is peddling her way to Amsterdam this April with local charity, Sporting Family Change. SFC supports individuals and families in Bath and North East Somerset using sport to build confidence and self-belief. Ella and the team, including volunteers and the community they support, aim to complete the epic cycle trip across four countries in just four days, in a bid to raise funds for this inspiring charity.

What is Sporting Family Change?

SFC is a local needs-led charity founded in 2014 with the aim of supporting amazing individuals and families across Bath and North East Somerset. They believe in spreading unconditional kindness and have seen this have a significant impact on society. Their core values, which underpin how the charity operates, are the belief in the abilities of humans, showing kindness and dignity and giving individuals time to show they are valued. The charity uses sport and healthy activities to engage with families and encourages them to believe they can achieve more than they think they are capable of! Previous challenges achieved by SFC include the Bath Half Marathon and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. SFC empowers the whole family to achieve their goals and supports them in their own communities, supporting more than 200 families last year. 

So, four countries in four days?

Leaving London on 24 April, they will cycle to Dover to board the ferry, then peddle their way through Dunkirk, Bruges and Rotterdam, before finally arriving in Amsterdam on 28 April having visited a total of four countries in four days!

This is a huge challenge, especially as some of the group have never cycled before training began.  The whole experience of training and working together is giving the team an amazing sense of achievement, as well as providing experiences out in the community and the opportunity to see other parts of the world they may never have visited otherwise.

Ella has started her training both at home and with the SFC team. There are fortnightly training cycles increasing in distance aimed at building up bike fitness in preparation for the charity ride. The charity will be supporting local mums to complete the cycle, some of whom have never cycled before! 

Sounds tough! So why is Ella doing it?

“I have previously completed events with SFC such as the Bristol inflatable 5k alongside some of the mums they support and their activities with young adults with learning disabilities. I have seen first-hand the impact this has had and I’m keen to tackle a challenge with them! I am absolutely no cyclist. You may have seen on my bio on our website I popped ‘cycling’ down as a hobby – this was absolutely in anticipation of my training starting last year which in fact did not start until a few weeks ago! It will be a huge achievement for me to make it to Amsterdam especially alongside SFC with Snapdragons spurring me on every pedal turn of the way!”

Can you help?

We’re so impressed by Ella’s determination and the wonderful work that SFC does that we’re supporting the Ella’s Four Countries in Four Days Big Cycle with a £500 donation.

If you’d like to sponsor her too and donate to SFC please follow the link to her Local Giving page. Ella's four countries in four days | Localgiving
If you would like to learn more about the charity, please go to Sporting Family Change