A former police officer will cycle 1,300 miles to Ukraine to raise money for people displaced by Russia’s invasion and tell them “we are thinking of you”.
Tom Harrison, 47, is no stranger to challenges having walked the London Marathon backwards last year and in April 2017 crawled the 26.2-mile event dressed as Mr Gorilla.
But on Monday he will cycle to Lviv, Ukraine, from his home in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, to raise money for the United Humanitarian Fund (UHF).
Mr Harrison, a mobile supervisor, hopes to raise £5,000 for the non-profit organisation which aims to help civilians in Ukraine affected by the ongoing conflicts.
He decided to cycle the journey to send a message of support and hope to Ukrainians plighted by Russia’s invasion.
“I wanted to actually go to Ukraine to show some support, to actually go there and say, ‘Hey, you’re not alone’, we are thinking of you,” Mr Harrison told the PA news agency.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m strangely both apprehensive and looking forward to it at the same time.”
He initially intended to cycle to Kyiv, but checked the Foreign Office website for guidance which advised against travelling there as it is too dangerous.
“It really brings it home that if it’s too dangerous for me to go there, what about all the poor people who actually live there?” he said.
Mr Harrison, who is versed in long-distance challenges having cycled from London to John O’Groats in Scotland, said “getting to Ukraine will feel quite an achievement”.
He added: “I think it’ll be quite emotional because of the effort that it would have taken to get there, but also I’ll almost feel what the country is going through, and then suddenly I’m a part of it.
“That is different to being an outside observer.”
Using a touring bike that belonged to his father, Chris Harrison, he will begin his journey cycling to Harwich on the Essex coast to take the overnight ferry to Rotterdam, before cycling through the Netherlands to Germany and Poland.
He estimates his journey will take two weeks with a rest day in the middle and he will cycle around 1,300 miles to reach Lviv on September 22.
“In the first week, I’ll be averaging about 85 to 90 miles a day, but in the second week, I’ll be doing more like 95 to 100 miles a day,” he said.
“It will be hard but the more of it you do, the more your body and brain just get used to it, and it never becomes easy but it just becomes more normal.”
During his journey, Mr Harrison intends to stay with the Ukrainian diaspora, which the UFH hopes to put him in contact with.
“These are Ukrainians who had to flee the country at the start of the war and are living in places like Poland, Germany, and Holland,” he said.
“At certain points, I’ll stay with some Ukrainians on route, which would be really nice. But where I can’t, I will probably try and find a cheap hotel somewhere.”
Mr Harrison will complete the journey alone but said he will “meet people en route”.
“I’ll be by myself and sometimes it can be a bit lonely but my friends and family will be following my progress and cheering me on,” he added.
“And then I’ll meet people en route. During all the challenges I’ve done, I’ve always met interesting people.”
He will share his progress on his Instagram account, but joked: “I’ll have to limit the amount of time I’m on social media because otherwise I won’t be cycling.”
Mr Harrison plans to pack light for his 14-day cycle.
“I always try and have a little bit of food with me because you never know where you’re able to get food at any given time,” he said.
“I’ll have to buy food en route from wherever I end up and in some ways, it’s kind of make it up as I go along.”
So far, Mr Harrison has raised £1,805 of his £5,000 target and his fundraiser can be viewed here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bike2ukraine
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