Family tragedy sparks 13-year-old’s epic Edinburgh to Harrogate bike ride

Amy Warrington will ride 250 miles from Edinburgh to Harrogate on Saturday, August 22, along with her father Adrian to raise money for Cancer Research.

Amy’s grandmother, Margaret Hutchinson, died of pancreatic cancer in 2012, just three weeks after she was diagnosed.

Last year, Amy decided to get on her bike and cycle from Morecambe Bay to Robin’s Hood Bay and managed to raise almost £2000 for the charity.

Now, she is looking to go one better as she adds more than 100 miles to her journey and her dad said she is looking forward to the ride.

He said: “After the success of last year’s ride, from the weather to Amy’s actual riding going so well, before we even finished we knew that we wanted to do another.

“I said to her do we want to go on the same sort of route or distance and she actually said that she wanted to go further.

“I thought where could we go so I gave her the option of a 200 or 250 mile ride and, of course, she chose the 250 mile one.

“That’s basically how we came about riding that little bit further, doing a different route because we raised a good chunk of money the year before.”

The father and daughter pair are now training hard to make sure they’re ready to tackle the epic ride, with Adrian confirming they train at least once a week.

Amy and her father will set off from Edinburgh and travel 80 miles to Seahouses on the first day before riding a further 55 miles to Whitley Bay the day after.

On the third day they will ride 60 miles to Barnard castle before the last leg of the ride will be a 55 mile journey to take them home to Harrogate.

Adrian, and his wife Christine, said they were very proud of their ‘determined’ little girl.

He said: “Amy’s only 13 but she’s very good, very strong on the bike. She does not let anything faze her, she does not whimper and whine about it. We ride together and have a laugh together as we go along.

“Our family and friends have all been very supportive and pleased with what she has been doing and very proud of what she has achieved.

“There are always some people we speak to who can’t believe that a 13-year-old is doing this sort of mileage.

“When you think of the mileage she is doing on these trips, like last year when she was only 12, it’s amazing but I think if you have the interest and the determination there’s a lot we can do.”

To support Amy and Adrian on their epic trip, visit https://www.justgiving.com/A-Warrington/.