Putney Man Taking on Epic Cycling Challenge
Gary 'Flash' Blesson raising funds for child poverty charity
Gary Blesson
July 26, 2024
A sixty-year-old man who grew up in Putney is taking on a massive cycling challenge to raise funds for a child poverty charity.
Gary Blesson, known to his friends as Flash, was inspired to support The Childhood Trust due to his own childhood experiences. He says, “I was born in South London into a very desperate situation, my birth mother was a prostitute, and I was found abandoned by the police. After spending some time in hospital, I stayed in a couple of foster homes until I was adopted by a family in Putney. While I have had a wonderful life and have always had a positive outlook, I am aware of the situations that too many children of London are born into, having had that experience myself.”
He will be starting his journey from St Andrew’s Club in Westminster, London, at the beginning of August. The first leg of his trip will take him from London to Dover, before he catches a ferry and heads down through France, into Spain, and then into Portugal. The journey is likely to be extremely exhausting, with Gary climbing The Pyrenees mountains on his route, and taking rest wherever he can find it for the night along the way. This mammoth endeavour is the same distance as cycling from the edge of west London to the edge of east London, over 40 times!
Gary has been a keen cyclist since the age of 22, having found it was a huge help to his mental health as well as his physical health. He said, “Cycling is so important for my mind, it puts me into a much better place in my head. I was late to finding the sport - I bet if any of my friends from school saw me doing this, they wouldn’t believe me! It really is amazing what you can do once you click into something, you can start from nothing like me.”
He now runs the cycling camp Delucci Retreat in Miranda Do Corvo, Portugal, where he has lived for the past 14 years. Gary has used his early life and passion for cycling to take on a number of challenges for charities previously, including creating the Velodrome Challenge for Great Ormond Street Hospital.
He adds, “Having grown up in London, it is really important to give something back to the children that need it. I feel incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity that I was given after my adoption, and want to use this to do good and help others. Over the years I have taken part in a number of fundraising events such as the London Marathon and several triathlons, but this is the biggest and hardest challenge I have ever done.”
Neha Mahendru, Interim CEO at The Childhood Trust, said, “We are incredibly grateful to Gary for taking on this tough challenge for The Childhood Trust this summer. His story is truly inspirational, and we hope it encourages others to get out and improve their fitness, and see where it can take them, both mentally and physically. Best of luck to Gary and we will be supporting you every step of the way!”
If you would like to donate to Gary, visit his link.
To learn more about The Childhood Trust, visit: www.childhoodtrust.org.uk.
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