Clitheroe firefighters overcome serious motorcycle endurance challenge

Four determined motorcycle enthusiasts pushed the limit of physical and mental endurance last week as they completed their ambitious challenge of riding from Blackpool Tower to Paris’ Eiffel Tower to raise money for The Firefighters' Charity and the North West Air Ambulance.

Mark Schofield and Morgan Roe, both firefighters based at Clitheroe Fire Station, alongside Lee Roe and Josh Stevenson, set off from Blackpool Tower on Thursday evening with the aim of completing the challenge in 24 hours. However, misfortune struck the quarter after the closure of the M25 in London, which resulted in a significant loss of time.

“We lost about two and a half hours with that M25 closure,” Lee said. “When we got to the crossing terminal for the shuttle, we'd obviously then miss our crossing train. However, we explained to them what we were doing, and they said, "Right, we'll put you on the next one for free,” Lee finished.

The quartet travelled to Paris via the Folkestone to Calais Channel Tunnel route, went across to France in the early hours of the morning and reached Paris by 9am Friday. The sight of the Arc de Triomphe gave the riders a burst of energy, which Lee admits was “really part of the strength that we drew upon to keep going,” but fatigue was beginning to impact the quartet, who were awake for a total of 44 hours and rode for 1,144 miles and 31 hours on the adventure, as came the realisation that they were unlikely to hit their 24-hour target.

“It was more about this being a ride of endurance than anything; to go all that way and back in, you know, even a day and a half was just a fair feat,” Lee admitted. “Riding in the dark is a lot worse than riding in the day. And at that time of night when we were coming back, you know, approaching 12, one o'clock in the morning, all the motorway lights got turned off. So on the lit sections, you're in pitch black.

“So, it was really tough. But we kept morale up by talking to each other on the intercoms and, you know, having jokes and saying what a wonderful adventure it was,” Lee finished.

The quartet arrived back in Blackpool at approximately 00:30am on Saturday night, having secured £1,619 in donations for charity. For Morgan and Lee, they spent the entirety of Saturday in bed to recuperate, but other members weren’t so fortunate.

“Unfortunately, Josh had a wedding to go to on Saturday. He was really miffed,” Lee said with a laugh. As for Mark? “One of our little WhatsApp groups, where Mark and I know each other from, a post went into the WhatsApp group that said, I know you guys have been on it for the last 30 odd hours, but a few of us are going out for a ride on Sunday. Anybody fancy? My reply was, nope, I'm selling my motorcycle,” he said with a laugh.

"But Mark went out for a ride on Sunday. I have no idea how we could even motivate him, let alone actually do it. But he went out with his fellow firefighters on Sunday for a little short bike ride. So I don't know how he did it,” Lee finished.

If you wish to support the quartet’s charity donations, you can donate over at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tower2tower