Another epic cycling story! If you were impressed fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari’s 1, 200kms bike ride to get her disabled father home, here is another inspirational epic ride. This story is about two 90-year-old WWII friends who are undertaking a commemorative stationary cycle challenge. After seeing this story, I will never accept “I’m too old” as an excuse not to cycle again. Wow!! Most people don’t ride 167kms, left alone in their mid-90s. There is hope for us all. What a way to commemorate a significant part of your life – AND raise money to help others in need. Enjoy. NG.
Two 90-year old WWII veterans are undertaking a 167 km (104 mile) charity cycle to commemorate the 76th anniversary of D-Day.
The two friends, Len Gibbon (96) and Peter Hawkins (95) are both Normandy veterans.
The distance was chosen because it is the same distance that Len Gibbon’s took as a solider to get from his home in Portsmouth to the front in Normandy in 1944.
Using stationary bike they aimed to cover the distance from Portsmouth to Gold Beach by D-Day on June 6th.
Both men are in wheelchairs, but this has not stopped them. To do the cycle challenge, they are using stationary bikes so they can still be comfortably seated while cycling.
Len Gibbon (96) started his cycle on VE day and has been riding every day since.
Already, they have raised over US$8, 500 for the charity Just Giving.
Mr Hawkins landed at Gold Beach a few days after Mr Gibbon in 1944 and was awarded a belated Legion d’Honneur for “recognition of military service for the liberation of France”.
Mr Gibbon said: “Although I’m 96, I still like to be active and take on new challenges. By cycling the same distance as the journey I took 76 years ago, it feels like a fitting tribute to those who were part of the Normandy landings.
The Normandy landings were like nothing else. You had to climb down this rope netting which hung down the side of the boat. Then when we got down to a certain point, someone shouted ‘Jump!’ and you had to fall backwards, someone caught you and pushed you on to the smaller landing craft to take you to shore.”
Originally from Elephant and Castle in London, Mr Gibbon joined the Royal Army Service Corps as a despatch rider when he was 20 years old.
In early June 1944, he got married and four days later he was posted to Normandy.
At Care for Veterans where he lives, physiotherapists have been working with Mr Gibbon on his balance and endurance.
His leg strength and overall fitness have improved with physiotherapy and he can now walk around safely with a mobility frame and supervision.
Taking part in this challenge would not have been possible without the physiotherapy.
Gibbons added: “Raising money for Care for Veterans means we can continue to help others who need support in later life.
I’m a keen dancer and am still able to have a dance with the other residents which keeps me young. I love to do the Cha Cha.”
Mr Gibbon was in Normandy through to the end of the invasion, then went to the Netherlands via Brussels, and was part of Operation Market Garden in September of 1944.
From there, he was posted in Germany, which is where he was when the war ended.
He recalled: “I was on my way to Hamburg, riding my motorbike along the autobahn by myself.
Suddenly a Spitfire was flying above me, came right down as if it was going to land on the road, then flew back up and did a loop. The pilot shouted down to me with thumbs up, shouting ‘victory!’
Then I knew it was over. I stood up on my bike, arms in the air, cheering.”
*Some content and images sourced from News Chain, Belfast Telegraph, CGTN and The Daily Mail.