Brave Bryn battles for brain tumour research
16 July 2009
Bryn Ruston understands the value of neurological research. A father of two, he suffers from a malignant brain tumour and has undergone two craniotomies in the past two years. He's using his experience to give other brain tumour sufferers hope by raising money for the BRT and earlier this year raised over £1,500 by organising a Taff Trail bike ride challenge.
Bryn originally started supporting the BRT by selling items on eBay and donating a percentage of the profits to the charity. But he and his wife Linda soon upped the ante by deciding to put together a team to take on the Taff Trail Challenge- an ambitious bike ride measuring 35 miles from Pontsticill Reservoir to Cardiff Bay’s oval basin.
They successfully recruited 23 enthusiastic participants who all helped Bryn successfully exceed his original fundraising target of £500 threefold!
Bryn describes the exciting ride, which took place on 3rd May 2009, in his own words:
The day went perfectly, with superb riding weather, an ideal temperature and even a tailwind! to push the 25 riders that started the 35 miles from the start at Pontsticill down to the end of the trail at Cardiff Bay, it did turn out to be 35 miles in the end not 32 as the Taff trail guide said, we thought it best kept quiet until the day.
After a slight hitch at the start, our van driver turned up at the council depot to find the van, that had been booked to shuttle all the bikes up to the start, blocked in by lorries, and nobody with a HGV licence to move them, until a driver was sent out from Llandow 10 miles away. This did cause a slight panic at the Docks office where most of the riders had assembled, but not too much of a delay in the end, we were loaded up and away by 9.40 instead of 9, we arrived 7 minutes late at the start and by the time the bikes were unloaded and photos taken we were all away at 10.53.
A wide variety riders with varying ability and riding experience set off together, some had borrowed bikes others had bought bikes for the event, and some had found a bike in the back of the shed they had not ridden for years.
All the riders managed to stay close together until the first Marshal point 1 at Merthyr College, after that, distance was made between a faster group that broke away, and some of the slower riders. Ricky and Phil 2 of my riding friends adopted the role of helping the last riders along with mechanicals and punctures. By the time the riders reached Marshal point 2 in Pontypridd, there was probably half hour plus between those at the front of the ride and those at the back, it did seem to be getting a little competitive now! By this time a couple of my other friends who had ridden up from Cardiff to the start had got back to Hailey Park in Llandaff North and were cheering the rest of the riders on as they came through.
Between point 2 and 3 saw a few riders getting lost again, (they were all offered a route guide) and spending time in the woods above Castlle Coch a very extreme section of the trail, that took in a very steep climb and steep decent, one rider commented that he knew they were in trouble when they got overtaken by an old lady with a walking stick! Not a short cut, but definitely a harder route.
It was around 2.45 when the first group of riders reached the finish at Cardiff Bay, a very good time, and made their way over to the Water Guard pub for well earned refreshments, we reached the bay at around 3.10 and the last group coming in at 3.50. All riders completed the challenge, so well done to everyone. Thanks to all the marshals' and support people, who made the day possible.
So far all the feedback has been very positive about the day, one of the riders who had borrowed a bike, enjoyed it so much she ordered a new bike Monday! Already people are mentioning another ride, someone has asked about doing the whole of the Trail, claimed to be 57 miles on the route guide. Maybe it could become an annual event.
The amount of money raised has been astounding with offline pledges of over 1k being split between Marie Curie and BRT, hopefully with the £1077.00 on the Justgiving site already we should make over £1500 for the BRT in total.
Bryn already has further plans to raise money for the BRT, including a 24-hour bike ride challenge in August. We wish to give a massive thank you to Linda and the cyclists, and of course Bryn, who is truly an inspiration to all.
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