A pair of British cyclists, Georgie Cottle (27) and David Charles (39), have recently completed a massive undertaking they both started about a month ago, to spell out a gigantic message across southern England using GPS artwork, traveling on their bikes to spell out “Refugees Welcome”.
The impressive display involved the pair collectively cycling 2200 kilometres in order to spell out the fifteen letter message via GPS, choosing to do so in south England due to it being the point in the UK where the largest concentration of asylum seekers enter the country. The two started their project as part of a charity-sponsored cycle for Choose Love, and ended up raising over £50,000 over the course of their challenging cross-county cycle.
Over their journey, the pair met a lot of friendly people and other cyclists that ended up joining them, helping them to complete their goal. It is acts and events like these that show how the greater cycling community is deeply kind and welcoming. What started as two people setting off to raise money for charity ended up becoming a huge group of people doing something good for charity, from the cyclists that helped them on their journey to everyone who donated. Georgie and David’s story is one that shows how cycling can bring people together to accomplish great things.
Georgie is quoted saying: “Normal people, like us, really do just want to help to try to do something to help people in need,” which further shows how cycling can do good for the community. Sponsored cycles for charity are a great way to raise money for those in need, and anyone can do it. Whether you’re an experienced cyclist or just getting into the hobby, as long as you have a bike you can start your own sponsored cycle, better yet, if you have a group that you cycle with you could all do one together. Not only does it help people, it's great for fitness and meeting new people.
If you've done any sponsored cycles yourself, or are maybe making plans to, leave us a comment below telling us how much you raised and what you raised it for!
