As challenges go, it has got to be up there with the most gruelling and physical you could possibly imagine.
A 1,000km cycle through the United States, from Hagerstown in Maryland to Marietta in Georgia, in little over a fortnight.
Daunting does not come close to describing the very idea.
But a Richhill family are preparing for just that and have been actively training, when possible, ahead of July’s big start.
The event itself is the Cycle for Hope, and the Lucas family, Lynsey and Reuben, and their children, Faith (17), Rosie (15), 12-year-old Jethro and Dylan (5), are eagerly counting down the days.
It is, according to Lynsey, the “adventure of a lifetime”.
Cycle for Hope was sparked by an historic moment — the first FIFA World Cup held on African soil back in 2010.
Robert Cuthbert, originally from Portadown, had grown up in Africa and wanted to reach beyond South Africa where the World Cup was being held and share the message of hope in Jesus.
What was seemingly just a crazy idea turned into a six-month expedition down through Africa.
A core team of 10 cyclists completed the full route, while around 40 others joined along the way for different stages. Together, they experienced the richness of African cultures first-hand, met thousands of people and had opportunities to share their faith — at churches, events and even on national TV and radio.
That first journey laid the foundation for what Cycle for Hope is today.
Lynsey told Armagh I : “Robert and his wife, Kyla, work for Ambassadors Football here in Ireland, but they’re full-time missionaries in Senegal. They’ve had lots of teams go out here from Northern Ireland, most especially from Portadown, Edenderry, to play football and set up pitches and the whole academy over there in a remote village.
“We were out a couple of years ago and then we were planning to go back out with them, but they’re doing the Cycle for Hope. They did it back when the World Cup was in Africa and they cycled north to south in Africa and finished in South Africa.
“They’ve done it ever since, whenever any big world or big football events are on in the country that it’s in.
“So this year, the World Cup’s in America, and so it’s a 1,000km cycle, from just outside of Maryland down to Georgia.”
The route will take the cyclists through Virginia and North and South Carolina en route to the finish line.
Some of the Cycle for Hope team on a training exercise at Craigavon Lakes.
And the goal of this year’s Cycle for Hope is to raise £25,000 of the remaining £50,000 needed to complete the Hope Football Pitch Project, which involves transforming a sandy, dusty pitch in Senegal into a high-quality artificial turf field that will serve young people, schools, camps and the wider community for years to come.
Added Lynsey: “The Cuthberts’ ministry is using football to come alongside the community. In Senegal, football is their God, really. But then a lot of girls up until this point probably wouldn’t have got the opportunities to play and different things, so where they are they were able to do that and they’ve got a girls team, a girls academy, with female coaches, and they have interns that they’re able to pay then and give them a job. So it’s been good that way.
“Cycle for Hope will raise the profile of Ambassadors as a whole, because that’s what we do here as well.
“There’s an entire club here that are in the female and male leagues and junior leagues. Their main aim now is to complete a pitch over in Senegal. Being in America, they’re trying to make more connections there as well because a lot of our connections are obviously here.
“My daughter came up through Ambassadors soccer coaching. She came up from she was three and then she has moved to Linfield the last couple of years, to their junior ladies team.
“Ambassadors has been so good to her that we then went back to help coach and get back to the wee ones and got to know Robert and Kyla in Senegal through that, and we actually did a mission trip, our family, over to help them two summers ago.
“We’ve just become really good friends and I suppose feel passionate about the work that they’re doing and the community that they’re in and even here in Northern Ireland.”
Robert and Kyla Cuthbert and their four children will also take part in Cycle for Hope, along with 18-year-old Reuben Finlay, from Armagh, Keith Calvin, from Portadown, who coaches the local ladies Ambassadors team, and Ben McDowell, also from Portadown, who will join the team en route.
The Cycle for Hope is new territory for the Lucas family as a whole.
And training schedules can often prove difficult.
But they are relishing the chance to get on their bikes and simply go for it!
“I personally cycled North to South Vietnam, way back, for Mencap, but I haven’t done any physical challenges,” said Lynsey. “We’ve done a couple of mission trips with our kids, but we haven’t done a physical challenge like this.
“With having the four children, it’s difficult to get out training, with normal activities and things. We’re just trying to get a couple of our stretches as often as we can and you’re just doing the local roads or Craigavon Lakes because it’s safer.
“It is difficult on our roads to be getting out and we don’t like the kids going out on their own. Thankfully they’re all quite fit with their own bits and pieces that they do, but it’s more my husband and I, with aged knees and joints finding it a bit tougher!”
The current pitch for Yakaar Academy in Senegal.
Lynsey, a nurse, and husband, Reuben, a structural engineer, will ensure the family pay for all of their own costs associated with taking part in the US challenge.
But they have now launched a crowdfunding campaign, the proceeds of which will all go directly to the project.
“I suppose it’s really only now the fundraising has kicked in,” added Lynsey. “We’re just so aware there’s so many charitable things going on. We were supporting other people doing Belfast Marathon and different things, so we didn’t really want to push too much on people.
“But we’re very fortunate. We have great support from both the Cuthberts, our home church, which would be Edenderry, and then both our workplaces and friends are more than supportive.”
Like with the dedicated crowdfunding page, all monies raised through donations at a special cowboy-themed BBQ, complete with games, which is due to take place from 5pm on Saturday, June 20, at Druminnis Church, and to which everyone is invited, will support the overall project.
The cyclists will then all set off for the United States at the end of June ahead of Cycle for Hope getting underway on July 1.
“Our last day cycling is the 18th of July,” explained Lynsey. “We’ll not cycle on Sundays, but the other days they’re all averaging about 70kms a day.”
So that said, it will be a long – but rewarding – journey for all of the participants, knowing the difference it will make to the lives of others.
But what of Lynsey’s hopes at the finish line?
“I’m hoping that my knees and my feet still work,” she laughs, before adding: “I think we’re looking forward to just being able to spend time together as a family.
“You never get to do that now, everything’s always so busy. It’s a dedicated time for us to be together and basically it’s an adventure of a lifetime for us and to afford our kids that opportunity.
“We’ll just be delighted that it all goes well and no one ends up injured and we all get to come home safe.”
Anyone who would like to support the Lucas family in their Cycle for Hope challenge can do so here.
