June issue - Magazine - Page 19
Glenside
News
GlensideNews@mail.com
COMMUNITY
RAFA Riding High!
If you saw a lot of cyclists riding around the Glenside area and passing through Castle
Bytham in mid-June, here’s what was happening
On Saturday 14 June over 500 riders assembled at
Kendrew Barracks (previously RAF Cottesmore)
to take part in this year's RAFA Ride. This
gathering of cyclists of all ages and abilities is the
RAF Association's global cycling event that
connects thousands of riders across the world. Now
in its eighth year, it has seen over 5,000 people
take part to date.
Since the first event back in 2018, RAFA Rides
has been a major part of the military charity
cycling events calendar, uniting Air Force
communities locally and internationally. A record
1,900 riders from more than 10 countries took part
in 2024, including Saudi Arabia, Australia, USA,
Canada and Belgium.
In the UK the 2024 event took place across
three RAF stations – Marham, Brize Norton and
our local Kendrew Barracks. For 2025, RAF
Leeming joined in the fun.
This year there were routes covering 25, 50, 75
and 100 miles, and five riders from the Glenside
area took on a mixture of them. The routes were
devised to be suitable for everyone from keen
cyclists to amateur riders, and current as well as
past RAF personnel joined in, along with friends
and family connected in some way with the Air
Force. The rides were a chance for participants to
challenge themselves, take part in a unique cycling
event and feel part of the wider RAF community.
All bar the 25-mile route passed through Castle
Bytham, and the Duck Pond was decorated with
bunting for the occasion, with an appropriately
signed bicycle placed to welcome the riders. It was
wonderful to see so many of them pass through our
picturesque village.
Castle Bytham is quite rightly a popular
cycling destination, with cyclists regularly
contributing to the success of our community shop,
stopping off for coffee and cold drinks, and perhaps
some home-made cake, almost every day.
Our local RAFA riders took part in the 25-, 75and 100-mile routes, with military veterans Mark
Humphries and Mark and Maris Hodge joined by
Andrew Woodward and Oscar Hodge (who was on
his first proper timed event). All of the Glenside
riders made it to the finish and vowed to take part
next year!
Money raised through RAFA Rides is used to
fund the RAF Association's vital work providing
much-needed help and support to thousands in the
RAF community. In 2024, the event raised an
incredible £150,000.
So the hope is, with another RAF station
joining this year, the 2025 total will be even higher.
Left: Mark,
Maris and
Oscar Hodge
with Mark
Humphries, still
smiling at the
end of the ride.
Below left:
Castle Bytham
welcomes the
RAFA riders.
Below right:
Andrew
Woodward
completing
the route.
Left: Feathered
Castle Bytham
residents
presented an
unexpected road
hazard for some
of the riders!
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