Young Hero Tackles 60-Mile Ride for Charity

The common conception of this new generation of kids is that they’re too immersed in the digital world. But it turns out that there are some young people that crave the outdoors just as much.

Jayden Wright took it upon himself and with the help of his dad, to cycle 60 miles from his favourite club’s stadium, Old Trafford, to the stadium he’s played for half of his lifetime. Thornton-Cleveleys was always the end goal for Jayden and as he approached the finish line on the 22nd March all of his teammates and family members were sat waiting for him. As Jayden rested his bike on the fence and tried to find his breath that he left somewhere along the A6, he thanked everyone that helped make the journey happen.

Jayden standing with his friends

The 12-year-old has currently raised over £1000 for charity and despite the gruelling task at hand, the youngster, is still hungry for more.

“Liverpool is next,” Jayden said to his dad when he sat down with me to talk about his journey.

“We are thinking about doing this every year, not necessarily increase the distance each time but we think it’s a good idea to travel to Thornton-Cleveleys from different stadiums around the North West.

“We might represent different charities, but the main reason we are raising the money is to help children get into sport and encourage to make sports more inclusive for all types of people.”

Jayden’s dad, Neil, rode with his son the whole way and explained his experience and if it lived up to his expectation.

He said: “We rode the first 30 miles before we stopped for a bit of food, recharged, and set off again.

“It got a bit hot, the weather was warm, but overall I really enjoyed it.

“As we got to the club, everybody was here waiting for him and gave a massive round of applause and for 12-year-old to raise over £1000 on the day, he deserves every bit of credit.

“Obviously we did this before when he was only 10 and raised a couple thousand pound that time. If we do this every year and set up fund raisers each time, by the time he’s 20 it would be amazing to see how much we have helped charities.”


Jayden standing with him and his friends to be a mascot

Brian House is the charity that Jayden raised money for this journey. Brian house is a children’s hospice that looks after ill children and also young people that need end of life care. They cater for all children’s needs.

Board member, Steve O'Keeffe, came to see Jayden finish his cycle ride and was one of the many that congratulated him on his efforts.

“I’m absolutely amazed at how well he's done,” Said Steve when he was asked about Jayden’s 60 miler.

“We're really grateful for the contribution he made, Brian house is a fantastic facility.

“If anyone's been there they can see for themselves, it costs over one and a half million pound a year to run and we get less than 20% of that out in the government, so any contributions we get are greatly accepted.

“This money will go quite a long way to provide care and for staff and medicines, but also to making the children's life experiences the best it can be.

“When Jayden and his dad arrived they looked like he'd been through it, so we're really grateful for it, and if he wants to come down once he knows what the figures are, we'll make sure to show him around Brian House.

“But I am so grateful and the money raised will go to a great cause and a thank you to Thornton-Cleveleys football club as well, It's been a great day all around.”

Thornton-Cleveleys chairman, Stephan Abbott, also had some words for Jayden’s

tremendous journey and for putting a great label on youth football at the club.

Jayden standing with the Chairman of Thornton-Cleveleys and board member of Brian House

He said: “He’s done an amazing thing for this club and this charity, particularly on the bike he was on because it wasn’t a road bike at all. Brian house is a great cause and to see Jayden give back, at his age, is just amazing.

“Hopefully he inspires other people do these fund raisers and if he is successful in influencing other young kids then I’d love to see where we are in a few years as a community.

“They didn’t pick a better day to do this challenge because seeing the junior team and the senior team come together like that, it doesn’t happen very often. It is really important to keep that bond between the teams because in six or seven years we want to see the juniors take over the first team.

“For a child at his age to want to do things like this, there’s few and far between that want to get out there to raise money."