Chance meeting at Lancaster's Health Innovation Campus sparks collaborative charity bike challenge

But a team of riders who met through the collaborative ecosystem at Lancaster University’s Health Innovation Campus have now jumped in the saddle for a gruelling bike challenge to raise money for vital cancer research in the region.

Stu Powers, Health Innovation Community Manager at Health Innovation One, joined forces with Bob Hart, whose Rosebank PR and Communications agency is based on site, and Sam Cusworth, a Lancaster Environment Centre PhD student, to complete the long-distance ride from Glasgow to Lancaster.

The group raised more than £700 for North West Cancer Research, a charity also based at Health Innovation One which funds critical work to find out more about the killer disease’s causes and potential treatment.

Stu and Bob, both multi-day long-distance cyclists, proposed the challenge to Sam, an Ironman World Championships qualifier, after the group had spent a year getting together to clock up the miles on the bike.

Stu said: “Bob was cycling around Belgium this summer while Sam and I completed a Coast2Coast ride for a local community group earlier in the year, so we felt there was enough in the legs to take on something a little bit longer. We bounced around some ideas before Glasgow to Lancaster was confirmed.”

Following a pre-dawn start in Glasgow, the trio rode the 170 miles back to Lancaster in 10 hours 27 minutes – arriving home to a well-earned beer and burrito.

Anyone interested in following the team’s route can do so at https://www.strava.com/activities/9661175828

Laura Kornas, Head of Partnerships and Engagement for Health and Social Care, said: “It’s great to see the impact the Health Innovation Campus has, not just from the work we do but the collaboration opportunities and friendships being built around our health and care ecosystem.”

In the spirit of collaboration and supporting science, the team also handed over their ride data to Lancaster’s Sports and Exercise Science department to support its work investigating the effects of endurance activities.

Donations are still open via the link https://northwestcancerresearch.enthuse.com/pf/stu-sam-bob-ride-a-bike-quite-far

Anyone interested in taking workspace in Health Innovation One and joining the Health Innovation Community can go to www.lancaster.ac.uk/health-innovation/workspace/