Amateur cyclists embark on 10,000 miles charity challenge in aid of Ardnashee School

The ambitious cycle, which will be split between eight novice cyclists with two ‘ghost riders’ providing back-up, got underway on Sunday afternoon to coincide with the school’s Fun Week and will conclude on August 30th next.

The testing challenge, which almost, collectively, equates to the length of the Great Wall of China, is hoped to raise in the region of £10,000 for the Racecourse Road school for children with additional needs.

The total raised will go directly to the school’s PTA which has run into difficulties this year due to the Covid-19 crisis as the pandemic curtailed its plans to stage a Strictly Come Dancing, quiz and other fundraisers.

Broken down, each rider will complete 2,000km in the saddle - an intimidating prospect for eight budding cyclists who range in ability and fitness levels, particularly as they attempt to balance families, jobs and yes, normal lives.

Their maiden cycle took place on Sunday as they set off from Ardnashee School, completing an average of 40kms, as the group donned their Lycra shorts and jumped on the saddle for the first time.

Among the cyclists was Marty McNutt who knows all too well the outstanding work done by the staff and the ‘priceless’ care provided by Ardnashee.

Indeed, Marty’s eight year-old son, Luca was diagnosed with global development delay and is a pupil at the school. And so he’s delighted to get the chance to give something back.

“There’s three things I wanted out of this challenge,” he explained. “The first was to raise the profile of the school and what they do. It’s the personal touch the school has. They look at my wee boy as a person and what he needs. They develop the skills the kids need for life.

“The second thing was to raise awareness for parents. For the likes of Luca, looking at him you wouldn’t realise he had special needs. Sometime his behaviour can be off the wall out in public and you get people looking at you as if to say, ‘can you not control your son’. So it’s just to raise that awareness. Not all disabilities are visible.

“The third thing I wanted to raise was that within families it’s really tough having a child with special needs. My wee girl, Rhia, is only five and she helps dresses Luca in the morning. She brushes his hair, puts his shoes on and it’s just to raise awareness of young carers within a household. So it’s more about the fundraising, it’s about raising awareness.

“Hopefully this will help the school get whatever they need to help meet the needs of the children.”

Paul Ryan’s child, Paul Doherty (6) has Patau’s Syndrome, a rare genetic condition. His close friend, Dee O’Hara is one of the organisers of the cycle challenge and Paul believes it’s a worthy cause.

He agrees that it’s the ‘personal touch’ and ‘passion’ for the job which makes the staff at Ardnashee so special.

“When I leave my son into school, his reaction says it all,” said Paul. “His face just lights up.

“The time and the care they give him. They don’t treat it as a job, it’s more like a vocation for the staff. You have to have a passion for it.

“My wee man had this fear of water but now he absolutely loves it as the girls at the school took him into the pool and worked with him. Now he can’t wait to get into the water.

“They (doctors) told us he might not do this and that but he’s walking now with a bit of help and he’s in swimming. That all came from the school as they spent weeks upon weeks getting into the water which has bought him on.

“You can see his smile when you press the buzzer and walk down the hall. He’s as happy and loves those couple of hours in there. It’s priceless!

“Paul’s genetic condition can cause a lot of seizures but the staff are all trained in that. We were so wary of leaving him there at the start but they build our confidence and we can now leave him there and feel 100 per cent at ease.

“And while he can’t verbally tell you how he gets on his expression and mannerisms tell you everything!”

Head of Senior School at Ardnashee, Sinead Crossan, whose husband Mark, is also one of the cyclists taking part, explains how worthy a cause the fundraising effort is given the school’s lack of resources.

“We rely heavily on funding to make the curriculum more creative, outside of what we can offer on the ground. We pride ourselves in being very outside the box. This week we’ve got fun week which is normally funded by the PTA.

“The whole school’s timetable is suspended for a week and the pupils love it. The school brings in bouncy castles, obstacle courses, a sports day is involved and we hire out the Sports Complex for the seniors. So this is usually a big buzz week and we rely on that money to make these events happen.

“It means this bike challenge has been launched at the perfect time as it coincides with our sports week and fun week.

“The things that are important to our pupils are all practical. They don’t learn from the page, they learn from the experience. So the money would, I imagine, allow more of these exciting things to happen and also to buy more up-to-date technology.

“A lot of our children are non verbal and require assistive technology to be able to communicate through i-pads and other software. There’s a lot of immersive, projection equipment we are interested in as a school for sensory rooms.

“A lot of our children have really challenging sensory processing disorders and really struggle to do any learning. So we have to try and match what they need with what’s out there and available and to get those things you need money.

“We have to be forward thinking when we bring in pots of money. We have to think, what can we do that’s going to give them the biggest and most exciting and engaging experience so that anxiety disappears.

“Other children who might have life-limiting conditions or might have a very severe form of cerebral palsy and for them we might bring in something like a kids farm which can be very therapeutic. That obviously costs money.

“The success would be in how many doors this fundraiser opens with the money raised.”

On a personal note, with her husband Mark involved in the challenge, is she looking forward to it?

“Mark loves a challenge. I’m not too sure I’ll love the challenge with four kids,” she laughed. “As it’s for the school as well, our family is very much part of Ardnashee so I’m buzzing for Mark. I think he’ll get really competitive on it. He was up at 6a.m getting ready to go out again.

“The strength of seeing 10 men coming together visually to have an impact on how these children learn - that to me is massive and the school will be so, so grateful for the dedication as it’s certainly not a walk in the park.”

Principal Raymond McFeeters added: “The pupils at Ardnashee school and college deserve the very best when it comes to education.

“Our PTA stop at nothing to provide funding that allows us to create exciting and enriching opportunities outside of the formal structures of the NI curriculum.

“We are overwhelmed to learn of the recent cycling challenge being led by parent, Martin McNutt and team to raise funds for the school. We thank them for going above and beyond with this challenge.”

Given job and family commitments it will be a testing challenge for those involved as they eke out a few cycles at dawn and venture on lunch rides each day in an attempt to clock up the miles!

The group would like to thank the following sponsors for their generous donations; Just Vape, Pro Gym, Wicked Vapours, The Mindset Junkie, Liquid State e-cig shop, The Fitness Box, Pro Gym, With Love Recipes,We Do It All Maintenance and media sponsors, The Derry Journal and Highlight Magazine.

If you would like to donate visit the charity GoFundMe page here