They’ve battled with snow, ice and Storm Bert — but the intrepid Cycle4Caroline team members are still on target to complete their mission and they’ve tipped the £100,000 mark on the fundraising scale.

The team of nine cyclists, led by Piggy March and her husband Tom, pedalled away from Bramham Park this morning for day sixth of their marathon cycle. When they reach Chatsworth this afternoon — after tackling some of their biggest hills yet — they will have reached the halfway point on their epic 1,100km cycle that will end at The Savoy in London this Saturday 30th November 2024.

‘I’m not a natural’

Piggy has christened her bike ‘MaryAnna’ and told Your Horse at the Cycle4Caroline launch earlier this year that she isn’t a fan of cycling and finds being on a bike “very, very uncomfortable”.

When asked whether she is finding the journey harder, easier or as expected so far, she said “all of the above”.

“Every day, every hour, is a little bit different,” Piggy told Your Horse. “I’m not a natural, I find a bike very uncomfortable, but we have trained as hard as we could. I’ve got to the top of the hills and i haven’t got off yet — I was getting off a lot at the start [of training]!”

Watch the full interview with Piggy below:

Joining Tom and Piggy are her sister Nini French, four-time OIympic medallist Ian Stark, plus Alastair Wilson, Holly Woodhead, Tom How and Brett Bullimore.

Catriona Williams, a former top-level event rider who was paralysed in a fall in 2002, has also flown in from New Zealand to take part in the challenge, riding a seated bike that she uses her arms to move.

Proceeding on foot

On Saturday, heavy snow meant the team were forced to walk the first section from Belsay to Ponteland, before it cleared and they could resume cycling, arriving at Nicola Wilson’s yard near Northallerton in the dark.

“The bikes were abandoned for obvious reasons, so we decided to walk from Belsay to keep going,” said Nicola’s husband Alastair, who is Patron of the British Eventing Support Trust.

“The bikes [followed[ behind us with the Defenders, and then when the snow [turned] to rain we [returned] to the bikes. It could be deemed to be silly if we tried to carry on.”

Saturday’s 111km route was predicted to take between four and five hours, but actually required nine hours.

‘Hell on Earth!’

“It was hell on Earth!” said Ian Stark. “It was an interesting day. I thought we were insane to start; we had to wait and then we were delayed and then kept going. It was a hard day and we just kept slogging on, with huge admiration for each other.”

For today’s 100km ride to Chatsworth, the cyclists are joined by Lord Burlington, son of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire — who live at Chatsworth — and travels through Wakefield, Penistone and Baslow.

You can track their progress here.

Watch Ian and Alastair talk about their experiences so far in our interviews below:

Take part in the final leg

The group is aiming to raise half a million pounds for Spinal Research and the British Eventing (BE) Support Trust. The challenge was set up in memory of Caroline March — sister of Piggy’s husband Tom — who died by assisted suicide in March 2024, two years after being paralysed in an eventing fall.

Donate to Cycle4Caroline online

The final 60km leg from Windsor to Central London will start at Ditton Park and is open to supporters joining in. Participants will cycle past Windsor Castle and follow the River Thames past Hampton Court Palace, as well as iconic London landmarks like Battersea Power Station, the Palace of Westminster and the London Eye.

Cyclists will arrive at The Savoy in time for afternoon tea.

Find out more about how to join in

Main image © Graham Reid