Grim up North but Jane’s team are riding high

Mike Tomlinson stepped off the ferry at Hull yesterday morning, for the home leg of a gruelling charity challenge in memory of his wife Jane.

Mr Tomlinson, 51, is running the Paris and London marathons as well as cycling between the two events, to mark the 10th anniversary of the first time that Jane completed the London Marathon and in a bid to take her charity’s fundraising total to £5m.

He is undertaking the challenge alongside a team of seven, including the couple’s 24-year-old daughter Rebecca, Leeds Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland and Bob Bowman, a youth crime reduction officer with West Yorkshire Police and a trustee of Leeds Rugby Foundation, who is a long-time supporter of the Jane Tomlinson Appeal.

But as the team stepped back on English soil for the Yorkshire stretch of the cycle ride between Hull and Leeds, it was far from a warm welcome home.

The team, accompanied by two support vans, four-time Ironman world champion Chrissie Wellington, Olympic marathon runner Tracey Morris and a Yorkshire Post reporter on a rattling 30-year-old steel-framed touring bike, set off from Hull with a cruel wind blowing in off the slate-grey Humber Estuary.

“It is very cold and grim but it was like that in France as well,” said Mr Tomlinson, who is carrying a leg injury that caused him to “limp around” the Paris Marathon course.

“But it’s bloody Yorkshire isn’t it, we knew what to expect.

“It is hard to imagine there is another three days of this and then we have to run another marathon.

“There isn’t anybody here who isn’t suffering. But it is not hard to stay motivated. That is not a problem.

“Failure is not an option for us. We can’t not do it. However painful it gets we just have to keep going.”

Also accompanying the team on the Yorkshire leg was long-term family friend Stuart Hinde, 48. Mr Hinde is secretary of the Rothwell Harriers, a Leeds running club that Mike and Jane Tomlinson trained with, and took part in the 2,500 Istanbul to Leeds cycle ride in memory of Jane in 2010.

Many Rothwell Harriers runners continue to volunteer at events in aid of the Jane Tomlinson Appeal, while Mr Hinde himself was a marshal at last year’s inaugural Walk For All Festival in the Yorkshire Dales and is planning to help out again at this year’s event.

“Even back when I first met her, Jane was inspiring people to do things,” Mr Hinde said.

“I wanted to meet Mike when he got back to Yorkshire and cycle with him to make sure he left here OK. There is also a big part of me that wants to help because of Jane.

“Mike likes to put a big challenge in front of him that represents part of the challenge that Jane undertook.”

As the rain continued to drive down, our route took us out of Hull and through the villages of South Cave, Riccall and Cawood.

Two crashes and three punctures later, the soaking wet riders stopped for lunch in a North Yorkshire pub before the final stretch into Leeds.

“I’m in a lot of pain at the moment,” said Rebecca Tomlinson, who stormed around the Paris Marathon, completing the 26-mile route in three hours, 35 minutes, but admitted she had only done six miles training for the cycling leg.

“In France the weather was even worse than this and the wind made it very difficult.

“I’m a bit gutted at how it is today, to be honest, I was expecting nicer weather because it is April after all.

“It may sound strange, but I am really looking forward to Sunday and running that London marathon because it is the last thing I have to do. But it feels a long way away at the moment.”

Nearing Leeds, talk turned to the home comforts the team have been missing for the past few days after cycling from Paris to Zeebrugge for the overnight ferry to Hull.

Mr Mulholland, in particular, had his eye on a home-cooked supper of steak and chips, although he conceded sadly that it was to be chicken and pasta instead to help keep up his strict fitness regime.

As we pedalled through the rain-slicked country roads, it was with an air of wistfulness that he talked about the minute steak sandwiches available in the House of Commons canteen.

“We are delighted to be back in Yorkshire. It has been something we have been focusing on since we left Paris,” Mr Mulholland said. “It is a huge motivation the fact that we are nearly home and that we are going to see our families as well.

“It has been very hard so far, but when I need to keep going I just think about Jane and all the aches and pains disappear.

“Every day is tough and a new challenge and every day asks new questions of yourself. It is a great team spirit and we are all helping keep each other going.”

The team arrived at Headingley Carnegie Stadium late yesterday afternoon and were treated to massages from the Leeds Rhinos physios.