{"id":17722,"date":"2025-07-24T04:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/17722\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T04:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:55:10","slug":"taunton-pupil-to-take-on-1000-mile-cycling-challenge-with-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/17722\/","title":{"rendered":"Taunton pupil to take on 1,000 mile cycling challenge with dad"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Taunton pupil and his dad are cycling more than 1,000 miles for a charity close to their hearts.<\/p>\n

Mo Speyer, who is in Year Eight, and his dad are taking on the huge challenge of cycling from John o’ Groats to Land’s End this summer.<\/p>\n

They have called this adventure their ‘Summer of Sweat, Spokes and Smiles.’<\/p>\n

They will be carrying all their gear and camping along the way as they make the journey, which began on Tuesday, July 8, from the top of Scotland to the bottom of England.<\/p>\n

This is in a bid to raise money for Smile Train, a charity that provides life-changing surgery for children born with a cleft lip or palate.<\/p>\n

Mo said: “This cause is really personal to me.<\/p>\n

“My little sister was born with a cleft lip and palate, and I\u2019ve seen how brave she\u2019s been through her operations and all the care she\u2019s had.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re so lucky in the UK to have the NHS, but not every child has that kind of support.<\/p>\n

“Smile Train helps children in other countries get the surgery and care they need to eat, speak, and smile confidently – and I want to help them do that.”<\/p>\n

The father and son duo originally set out to raise \u00a3300, but have already raised more than \u00a33,000.<\/p>\n

Donations for the fundraiser are welcome at cutt.ly\/srn0SNvS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mo said: “I\u2019m so thankful to everyone who\u2019s donated and supported us – it\u2019s made me even more determined to keep pedalling all the way to Land\u2019s End.<\/p>\n

“Every pound we raise can make a real difference in a child\u2019s life.”<\/p>\n

The idea for the cycle came from Mo, and the pair have been training on the bikes and getting all their kit ready ahead of the journey.<\/p>\n

Mo said: “I came up with the idea, and luckily Dad said yes – even though he\u2019s definitely not as young or fast as he used to be.<\/p>\n

“To get ready, we recently did a three-day training ride around Somerset, covering 240km with over 2,000m ascent to test our kit, legs, and patience.<\/p>\n

“I felt really good the whole way – though I\u2019m not sure I can say the same for Dad, who needed a lot more snacks and a lot more coffee.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re aiming to travel at a steady pace, soaking in the scenery and meeting people along the way.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re hoping to finish in around four weeks, and I can\u2019t wait for the adventure.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a chance to do something amazing with my dad, raise money for a cause close to our hearts, and hopefully inspire a few people too.”<\/p>\n

If you’d like to follow Mo’s journey, you can find him on Instagram at @cyclinghorizons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Taunton pupil and his dad are cycling more than 1,000 miles for a charity close to their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,18932,784,18934,18933,18931,85],"class_list":["post-17722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cleft-lip-or-palate","tag-cycling","tag-dad","tag-fundraiser","tag-smile-train","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}