Raising £1,000,000 for Cure Leukaemia
Dr Gillett, along with a team of 17 other amateur cyclists, embarked on a charity run aiming to complete all 21 gruelling stages of the Tour de France. The team started on Saturday 24th June in Bilbao. The Tour de France was fast approaching and you could tell, the city was prepared and excitement was growing. The team had a long first three stages to look forward to taking them through Spain with French mountains soon to follow. The 21 stages included 5 demanding mountain ranges; mountains were as followed; the Pyrenees, Massif Central, Jura, Alps and Vosge. This journey through mountain ranges saw some tough trails, the Col de Joux Plane, the Col de la Loze, and the Puy de Dôme.
The team cycled for 156 hours. They conquered over 3,400km with over 57km of elevation. 70,000 calories were burnt. They had their patience, endurance and mental strength tested to the limits but in the end their efforts raise over £1,000,000 for Cure Leukaemia, a National blood cancer charity providing patients to potential life saving treatments. The donations were then invested in the national Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP), funded by Cure Leukaemia since January 2020.
The TAP Network consists of expert Research Nurses across 15 blood cancer centres in the UK. It facilitates the rapid initiation and execution of crucial blood cancer clinical trials, providing access to innovative treatments not yet available in standard care for patients within a catchment area exceeding 20 million people in the UK.
“It felt great to commit to a progressive training regime and complete the task set for me for a good cause, there were some very tough days but ultimately the team accomplished what we set out to do.” – Dr Mark Gillett