Setting off from St Bees on the West Coast of England
Productivity improvements are not just restricted to cutting tools and machining. After previously completing the infamous Coast to Coast mountain bike route a combined five times, Claude Sun and Tony Pennington always planned to do it again one last time. This time their challenge was to cut the normal time, of five-six days of hiking, climbing, carrying and mountain biking, down to three.
On their previous crossing from St Bees on the West coast of England to Robin Hood’s Bay on the East coast Claude and Tony had cut the time to four days to complete what is known as the ‘Holy Grail’ of mountain biking, the Wheelwright route, which is based on the writings of the Lake District’s most famous fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator, Alfred Wainwright MBE. The total journey is 198 miles (319 km) and includes 19386 feet (5909 metres) of elevation and takes across three National Parks, these being the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and The North Yorkshire Moors.
Tony at the top of Black Sail Pass – the pair were the 4th fastest up the pass so far this year and 10th fastest ever (strava)
The demands of the route are such that it usually takes five – six days to complete on a mountain bike, or 12 days if walking, so Claude and Tony called on the services of C2C Packhorse, a company specialising in transporting bags and equipment from overnight stay to overnight stay.
“When I first approached C2C Packhorse and told them that our plan was to complete the route in three days. Their response was that I must be mistaken as to achieve this route in three days would take a superhuman effort. I explained that we’d done it before in four days and just wanted to try three! When I mentioned this to Claude, he laughed and so the challenge was set, Coast to Coast on mountain Bikes in three days it was, ” says Tony Pennington.
Journey’s end at Robin Hood’s Bay
In addition to the personal achievement for Claude and Tony the pair also raised £396 or the equivalent of £1.00 per mile for each of them. This money will be added to the £30,000+ already collected through a number of activities for WNT (UK)’s two chosen charities over the last 3 years, Cancer Research UK and The British Heart Foundation.
A special thank you has to go to Chris Carey and Dan Atkinson who organised all the transportation of the bags and tired bodies at the end.
WNT (UK) Ltd
Tel: 0800 073 2 073
Email: tony.pennington@wnt.com
www.wnt.com