John Lowit and his family experienced first-hand the devastating bus accident in 2007 in which Elizabeth, the mother of ELoH founders Sarah Hope and Victoria Bacon tragically died, in which Sarah was badly injured and which caused her 2 year old daughter Pollyanna to have her right leg amputated below the knee. Living next door to the Hope family, John and his wife were a great support to them on the day of the accident and afterwards.
Today, John is taking on his first big charity challenge in three years, after running the London Marathon in 2011: He has been accepted into the Prudential Ride London-Surrey 100 in August.
This Ride follows the Olympic cycle route from Olympic Park to The Mall and into Surrey’s countryside and will boast leg-testing climbs and a route made famous by the world’s best cyclists at the London 2012 Olympics. Also, it is 100 miles long!
John, who says that he has never ridden more than 18 miles on a bike at once is training hard to rise to this challenge. Speaking of his motivation to participate, he says: ” The accident affected everyone in the community hugely as the bus garage was not only on our road but also between our houses and school so there was (and still is) a constant reminder. Having read about some of the work that ELOH does for amputees and knowing Pollyanna I decided that should I get into this 100 mile bike ride I would do it for ELOH.”
If you would like to support John to help us help vulnerable child amputees, please visit his JustGiving page here, where you can donate using the “Donate” button. Otherwise, you can also send a text to 70070 using the words JOLO66 to give £10.
Thank you, John, for taking on this incredible challenge for ELoH – best of luck and keep cycling!