Charity chief Steve gets in gear

17th June 2015

The chief executive of a top Sheffield sport and leisure charity has raised almost £7,000 after taking part in a gruelling west-coast-to-east-coast bike ride.

Steve Brailey, head of Sheffield City Trust (SCT), has completed the 170-mile Coast to Coast bike ride recently with his wife, Julie and a friend, Jill. The trio rode in aid of the Alzheimer's Society after Julie's mother was diagnosed with the disease five years ago, with Steve's father recently being told he has the illness as well. Steve said: -The Alzheimer's society is a cause incredibly close to our hearts, as we know too well the effects of the condition. -There is no cure for Alzheimer's yet and those with the condition only get worse. -There were so many people with such hard-hitting stories that it was just so rewarding to take part in an event like it. The bike ride, which runs from Morecambe on the west coast to Bridlington on the east, covers 170 miles and takes place over the course of three days. It takes in a testing route including the Lake District and the Pennines, which Steve said the team found particularly tough. -We'd been practising quite a lot in Hathersage and Baslow so we thought we'd be fine, he said. -It turns out the route was much hillier than we were expecting and the hills in the Pennines were much worse than those in Sheffield! -The reason the bike ride is west to east is because the wind usually blows that direction not when we did it though, which all added to the hard work. -However, it was worth it. Not only have we raised almost £7,000 between us but we've also been to places we would never go to. Some of the scenery was spectacular, said Steve. Steve also said that he completed the bike ride on a hybrid bike a cross between a road-racer and a mountain bike which he said made the course tougher. -It was something different, though, and we'd recommend it to anyone to give it a go, said Steve. SCT is a local charity which helps to promote and improve fitness and wellbeing in Sheffield. It runs popular sporting venues such as Hillsborough Leisure Centre, The English Institute of Sport Sheffield (EIS Sheffield) and iceSheffield. For more information on SCT visit www.sivltd.com and for more information on Steve Brailey's fundraising story visit www.justgiving.com/Steve-Brailey/.