Steel Valley ride a hit once again

STEEL VALLEY RIDE A HIT ONCE AGAIN

THE Steel Valley Ride, a 31 mile mountain bike challenge covering the dramatic landscape of the Peak District and the quiet roads and bridleways around Stocksbridge, took place on Saturday July 14.

The event was held to help raise funds for the Steel Valley Project a countryside management charity in Stocksbridge working to improve the environment for people and wildlife in the Upper Don area.

However, this year had an extra special element to it as the ride also helped to raise funds for the British Mountaineering Council ‘Mend Our Mountains’ campaign.

Part of this campaign is to raise money to repair the boggy sections on the iconic Cut Gate bridleway, linking Langsett and Howden reservoirs. As the Steel Valley Ride route travelled over Cut Gate, the charity decided to donate a percentage of this year’s entry fees to the campaign, totalling a fantastic £468.

Just under 90 riders completed the gruelling 31 mile challenge on Saturday in sunny conditions and soaring temperatures. Some finished in an impressive 3 to 4 hours, whereas others made use of the whole day, but special mention goes to one lady who entered the ride after stopping smoking and starting mountain biking only 5 months before completing the event.

Tom Newman, Project Manager at the Steel Valley Project said

“Everybody deserves massive congratulations for completing their own challenge, whether it was to finish quickly or just to finish, push their mileage on a bike, or raise money for charity.”

Stocksbridge Mayor, Cllr Julie Grocutt, started off the riders in the morning and then drew two winners for a prize draw to win a pair of mountain biking shoes (donated by Trek Sheffield for the first 50 entrants) and a £50 Trek voucher (donated by Stocksbridge Town Council for the first 100 entrants).

Congratulations to the two winners, Jonathan Lambert and Rachel Young.

All the returning riders received a free water bottle, donated by Trek Sheffield. With such high temperatures, many waived their complementary hot drink and made use of their new water bottle instead!

An event of this nature would be impossible to run without support from local businesses and people in the community. The charity is keen to thank all the volunteer marshals who gave up their time and helped to give the riders taking part a great experience, playing a huge part in making the event so successful.

Particular thanks also go to Trek Sheffield for their support throughout the event. They gave up part of their shop on the day to host the Event HQ, and also helped with the creation of a promotional video and donations for participants.

Liberty Speciality Steels and Dransfield Properties Limited (Fox Valley Shopping Centre) also provided parking facilities for the event participants and volunteers.

The charity has received lots of positive feedback and thanks from event participants about the day, including one person who said

“The hills were very hard work, but the amount of variation in terrain, signposting, friendly marshals, feed stop and organisation were brilliant.”

Speaking on behalf of the charity, Tom Newman said

“It was a great day, thanks to everybody involved and for all your support for the Steel Valley Project and Mend Our Mountains campaign.”

For more information on the countryside management work carried out by the Steel Valley Project, please visit www.steelvalleyproject.org