A Macclesfield dental worker has raised nearly £1500 in memory of her friend, through a gruelling charity bikeathon.

Sarah Smith (31), hopped on her bike at 4:45am on Sunday June 27.

She cycled an incredible 18.2 per cent of the whole distance travelled, which was a whopping 657.51 miles.

Even more miles were added by those cycling for the event that could not attend the Macclesfield fundraiser.

Sarah and over 30 other Maxonians rode on exercise bikes in the garden of Tytherington personal trainer Tina Smyth.

The cycle was to raise awareness and funds, after her pal Lena Burns lost their life to a rare cancer earlier this year.

The epic charity cycle lasted 16 hours and 45 minutes, with Sarah cycling in the majority of it.

She started at 4:45am, and 33 friends and family took turns in cycling until 9:30pm.

"I cycled a total of 120 miles, my time in total was about nine hours of cycling," Sarah said.

"My personal target in mind initially was 100 miles, but I added another 20 as the day continued.

"Thank you so much to everyone who took part. You all did amazing."

The overall targets for the charity bikeathon were set in memory of places connected to Sarah's friend Lena, who lost her life to the bile duct cancer cholangiocarcinoma.

Target one was cycling across Jamaica, which was 146 miles, completed by 8.00am. This was a country Lena had a great fondness for.

The second aim was biking the length of Kerala in India, where Lena's family were from. These 360.4 miles were completed by 1.00pm.

The last target was a cycle from Manchester to Amsterdam - where Sarah and Lena often holidayed. This goal of 431.6 miles was done at 3.00pm, with six-and-a-half hours to go.

"We opted to continue cycling through until 9.30pm as originally planed and virtually made it back to London," Sarah added.

"There were also people who cycled on their own bikes on the day [who were not in Macclesfield].

"They contributed an extra 65.8 miles, making the grand total for #QueenRaggy cycle day of 723.31 miles."

The cycle was hosted outdoors at the Tytherington home of Sarah's personal trainer Tina Smyth.

The #QueenRaggy bikeathon met 286% of the fundraising goal, by raising £1431 from 55 supporters.

All funds will go to cholangiocarcinoma charity AMMF, who were founded in 2002.

Michaela, a Fundraising Support Officer for the AMMF, spoke to Macclesfield Nub News on Sarah's achievement.

"We are really grateful for Sarah, her family, and friends who have organised this event," said Michaela.

"To have raised such an amount in these [pandemic] times, and for an event which lasted just one day is terrific.

"All these people gave up their time, and it wasn't an easy event either by any means.

"We are delighted, and pleased to announce that all the funds will be attributed to Sarah's friend Lena.

"We're hoping it will inspire a few more people to want to make a difference for smaller charities like AMMF.

"We are also grateful for the deconstructed charity ironman challenge Sarah is doing for us at the end of the year. Her plan to do all this is amazing."

The AMMF is doing all it can to raising the awareness of cholangiocarcinoma, to provide reliable, current information to those who need it, and to encourage and fund research into this devastating cancer.

£15 could fund collecting and storing a biofluid sample for CCA research.

£50 could help to fund research into new CCA biomarkers for early diagnosis.

£100 could help to fund research into a treatment to beat CCA.

You can still donate to the Macclesfield fundraiser on the JustGivingPage here.

For more info about the AMMF and cholangiocarcinoma, please head here.

The Editor for Macclesfield Nub News also took part in this charity event.

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