Joanna's grand challenge

A gruelling 200 mile cycling trip in the blazing Moroccan heat awaits Joanna Proudlock. The ride is all in a good cause, as Joanna is aiming to raise £1,000 for charity.

Joanna, 27, from Norton, is the Publications Officer at the University of Teesside. In October she will cycle across the volcanic Jbel Mountain range to the High Atlas Mountains and then into Marrakech – all to raise money for the Esther Benjamins Trust, a charity which works in Nepal to help the country’s poorest and most disadvantaged children.

Joanna, said: “I found out about the Esther Benjamins Trust through my brother John who spent a year in Nepal teaching English.  He saw a centre that the Trust had built which housed children who had been through terrible experiences.  Most recently the Trust is working to release and rehabilitate Nepali children who have been trafficked to India to work in terrible and dangerous conditions in travelling circuses. They are forced to live in miserable circumstances and suffer frequent abuse and so far the Trust has helped to bring 85 children and teenage girls back to Nepal. In order to continue this vital work they need to raise substantial funds – which is why this trip has been organised.

“I really like the idea of doing something to help disadvantaged children from a country that is so much poorer than our own.  I’m also excited about the trip – I’ve never done so much physical activity over such extreme terrain and at such high temperatures.  I’m well into my serious training schedule now and I can’t wait for October when we go.”

As well as training time in the saddle, Joanna is also making use of the University of Teesside’s environmental chamber – a state-of-the-art facility which can create temperatures from -30ºC to +55ºC for athletes to acclimatise to the rigours of extreme heat or cold. Sports science students also use the chamber to assess the impact that different temperatures can have on the body.

Joanna is aiming to collect £1,000 sponsorship for the Esther Benjamins Trust.  You can sponsor her online at www.justgiving.com/joannaproudlock, call her on 01642 342946 or email j.proudlock@tees.ac.uk.

---