This Praze an Beeble Cyclist Is Riding 600 Miles for His Nana

Six hundred miles. Two months. One bike. That is the summer Oliver Cozza has set himself, and every mile of it traces back to the grandmother he lost.

The challenge

Oliver Cozza, from the village of Praze an Beeble, is cycling 600 miles around Cornwall across July and August to raise money and awareness for two cancer charities. He is splitting it into two legs. Three hundred miles through July for Cancer Research UK, then another 300 through August for Prostate Cancer UK.

Every route starts from home. The plan is to cover as much of the county as he can fit in, riding the lanes and roads from one end of Cornwall to the other.

His target is £600. A pound for every mile, though he says he would be delighted to go past it.

Why he is doing it

Both of Oliver’s grandparents have been affected by cancer. A couple of years ago he lost his Nana to it.

“Watching my grandparents battle cancer, and losing my Nana to it, showed me how devastating this disease can be. If this challenge helps raise awareness and even a small amount of money to support research and treatment, every mile will be worth it.”

On his fundraising page Oliver writes about seeing how far cancer reaches beyond the person diagnosed. The hospital visits, the waiting rooms, the uncertainty between treatments, and the feeling that there was very little he could do to help. The ride is his way of turning that into something, in her memory.

How to support it

The July leg is for Cancer Research UK, with the riding running from 1 July to 31 July. The August leg is for Prostate Cancer UK, the most common cancer in men, which affects around 1 in 8 in the UK, and runs across the month of August. At the time of writing Oliver had already raised £60 towards the first leg before a single mile had been ridden.

Both pages are open for donations now:

Cancer Research UK (July): https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/ollies-300-mile-bike-ride

Prostate Cancer UK (August): https://cyclethemonth.prostatecanceruk.org/fundraising/olivers-cycle-the-month-challenge250