Harrogate cyclist plans 24-hour challenge in aunt’s memory

A Harrogate man is preparing to take on a 300-mile cycling challenge in memory of his aunt, a well-known national radio broadcaster.

Simon Gregory will cycle from Harrogate’s Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre to the Southampton hospital where his aunt, the Rev Ruth Scott, was treated for lymphoma.

He plans to complete the 288-mile route in just 24 hours in June, which will mean cycling through the night on his own. Despite the scale of his challenge, Simon is a relatively new cyclist. He said:

“I got into cycling around the time Ruth died and when the UCI cycling was coming to Harrogate. A client entered me for the sportive and I raised £2,000 for Leeds Cares.

“From there, I realised the physical benefits and mental health benefits of cycling, which really helped me with my grief.”

Simon continued to ride and, having raised £2,000, began to wonder what he could do to raise even more for cancer charities.

One of several family members to go through cancer treatment, his aunt was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma which did not respond to normal treatments – though some long-shot options taken by her doctors did give better results. Throughout her treatment, Ruth and her family were supported by Macmillan.

Pause for Thought

Until shortly before her death in early 2019, Ruth was known as one of the voices of Pause for Thought on the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, first with Sir Terry Wogan and then with Chris Evans. However, Simon said her appearances were just one of the remarkable things in her life.

“She was a priest, and before that she was a clown in a circus. The first service she did after she was ordained involved a bit of fire eating.

“She never said no to a challenge and she spent a lot of time in the Middle East and North Africa, to try to increase understanding between Christian and Muslim communities there.”

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Ruth herself once cycled from Rome to Jerusalem, giving Simon even more inspiration for his challenge. He began training last year and has stepped up his mileage in recent weeks.

At the same time, he is juggling home-schooling for his two primary age children, and running specialist recruitment business GPS Return with his wife, Miranda.

“They’ve been incredibly supportive. These last couple of weekends, the snow has interrupted training but Miranda has still been encouraging me to go.

“For some of the rides, I’ve been out for 10 or 11 hours. Last year, they jumped in the car and had a day on the beach at Saltburn. I cycled up and met them there for 20 minutes then set off home again.”

The current lockdown restrictions mean Simon is staying closer to home: his next 100-mile training ride will be completed in laps starting from his Harrogate home.

Although he told his wider family last year about the challenge he was taking on, Simon has only just revealed it to friends. Now, he’s hoping to get as close to his £10,000 fundraising target as possible before he starts the challenge in mid-June.

To donate to Simon’s challenge, click here, or follow his progress on Instagram at @ruthscott24hr.