We held our third annual Cycle Sportive earlier this month, starting and finishing at Inhurst Farm in Baughurst.  Cyclists chose to ride 85, 45 or a family-friendly 12 mile route through the picturesque North Hampshire countryside and were greeted at the finish line with a shiny medal and complimentary hot lunch.

Almost 250 cyclists participated and a grand total of £10,857.50 was raised, which will enable us to purchase Infectious Disease Molecular Diagnosis for Microbiology.  This cutting edge molecular technology will allow Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) to expand their portfolio of infectious disease tests and repatriate a number of reference lab tests too.  Consequent reduction in turnaround times versus their current standard of care will reduce diagnostic uncertainty and allow them to put septic patients on the correct targeted treatment sooner.  Once these are established they can offer further rapid novel tests to their adult population at HHFT which is not currently possible, particularly those associated with community acquired pneumonia and sepsis.

We received an abundance of positive feedback with comments such as “an excellent course, one of the best I’ve ridden” and “a lovely day and a very well organised event”.  We would like to thank everyone who cycled, donated and volunteered on the day, and are very grateful to our sponsors which include Artisans of Devizes, Watership Property, Specialized Concept Store (Newbury), DriveDen and ASSOS.  Photos on the day were taken by Tyron Mills Photography and can be viewed here.