A north-west London man will be cycling 1,500km in under four days to raise funds for injured Israeli veterans.
Stephen Rosen, 49, is taking part in the The London-Edinburgh-London (LEL), one of the hardest cycling events in the UK.
Held every four years, it sees some 2,000 people attempting to cycle the journey in under five days, but the member of Norrice Lea Synagogue plans to reduce that time by 24 hours.
“In the world of ultra-cycling, this is one of the very big ones in the UK,” he told the JC.
Setting off from Guildhall in London at 5am on Sunday, August 3, Stephen will begin the arduous 724km journey to the Scottish capital, only stopping at specific sites to take selfies and get his brevet card stamped as proof that he was there, before traversing all the way back, taking a slightly different route.
He is setting out with a “rough plan” of where he hopes to take his first rest stop – the town of Richmond, 400km away in north Yorkshire – which he hopes to reach after about 20 hours of non-stop cycling.
A range of competencies and abilities take part in the ride, but typically the “top 10 per cent are trying to make really good times. I’m in that top 10 per cent, so I’ll try to be competitive,” said Rosen.