A team from Halton Borough Council Day Services has been congratulated by sprint legend Colin Jackson, winning runner-up in the ‘Your Champion’ awards at an awards ceremony in Chester.

Staff and users at Halton Borough Council Day Services, were ‘tyre’-lessly raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis Trust by doing a 100 mile cycle challenge at Kingsway Leisure Centre on Friday 14 July, with more than £1k raised.

The gene affected by CF controls the movement of salt and water in and out of cells. People with cystic fibrosis experience a build-up of thick sticky mucus in the lungs, digestive system and other organs, causing a wide range of challenging symptoms affecting the entire body.

Many rely on transplants as organs fail but this is not a cure, with the average life expectancy for a CF patient currently just 37-years-old.

The cycle marked the recent loss of colleague Cath Mackrell and her Grandson Luke, who passed away within a week of each other. She did a lot of fundraising for CF as one of her grandsons, Billy, aged ten of Frodsham, who joined the effort, is living with the condition.

Halton Borough Council staff members did several different fundraisers in memory and celebration of Cath and are creating a tranquil space within the office courtyard at Halton Day Services ‘Bredon’ in Palacefields.

Halton Borough Council’s Executive Board Member for Health and Wellbeing, Cllr Marie Wright, said: “It is a measure of how well loved and respected Cath was that her former colleagues are doing this for her. And she would have been very proud of the award.”

The event was to cycle 100-miles as a team on bikes, one was situated by the leisure centre entrance and one in the activity room.

The team of 24 cyclists consisted of Halton Borough Council staff, service users with physical and learning disabilities and a couple of friends.
There was some good camaraderie and banter during the event and members of the public were dropping money into a bucket as they passed the cyclists offering words of encouragement.

As well as Billy, Halton Council Communications Officer, Mark Allen who also has CF, joined the team. The cycle challenge lasted from 9am until 6pm with the team totting up 120 miles.

A YouTube video shows highlights of the challenge https://youtu.be/v83vWRGylvE

The ceremony, was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Chester with Olympic silver and medallist Colin Jackson presenting the awards.

This annual awards campaign is run by Trinity Mirror, Cheshire and sponsored by Scottish Power and highlights the achievements of individuals and teams that contribute charitable work to communities.

The categories were: Champion Person of the Year, Young Champion, Volunteer champion, Sporting champion and Team champion which was the category that Halton Day Services were nominated in. The category was won by a Wirral group who support women who have suffered domestic violence.

The cycle eventually raised £1,030.00 for CF.