About two and a half years ago, British cyclist, James Bowthorpe, was volunteering at a Parkinson’s Disease research clinic based at King’s College London in the Institute of Psychiatry. His goal was to gain a bit of experience for medical school applications. After about a year, James noticed that instead of focusing on finding a cure, doctors often had to concentrate on finding funds for their research efforts. As a result, Bowthorpe decided he wanted to find a way to help out. At the time, the world record for fastest circumnavigation around the globe had just been broken, many believed this record to be “unbreakable”. And there it was…the inspiration.
James Bowthorpe’s plan was to raise £1.8 million for Parkinsons research during 150 days of cycling at about 120 miles a day (without a support team) to cycle for a grand total of 18,000 miles!!!
This was a couple months back. This past Saturday, he finished!!!! And he broke the record by 20 days!!! Bowthorpe returned home to find a bunch of supporters join him for the final leg from Portsmouth and an even larger crowd was waiting for him at the finish!!!
So the final numbers? Mr. James Bowthorpe cycled across the globe in 176 days giving him an average of over 100 miles per day! Bowthorpe’s route took him through Europe, Iran, India, South-East Asia, New Zealand, Australia and North America and in the process, he has raised over £58,000! Apparently, his fundraising attempts are far from over for he has some new UK based events coming up in the next few months.
Here is a recent interview he gave on BBC London:
What a lovely man! Major congratulations go out to Mr. Bowthorpe for his stunning achievement. It is one thing for people to say they want to do something, but to see someone accomplish their goals (almost! you can still donate here) in hopes for the betterment of mankind is something else.
For more information (and pictures taken during his travels), you can visit the “Globe Cycle” website here!
Love to all,
Carla
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