Doctor taking on mammoth charity challenge in memory of her dad who lived in Leek Wootton

Harriet Mcgrath who works is an oncology registrar in London, is cycling from London to Lahti in Finland – traveling a distance of around 1,250km through England, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Finland.

In Finland, she will then take on a 110km ultra marathon.

She set off from Tower Bridge in London on May 12 and will be taking part in the ultra marathon on May 25.

Harriet is taking on the challenge to raise money for the Ruth Strauss Foundation as well as being in memory of her dad, Simon McGrath, who lived in Leek Wootton for nearly 30 years.

This is not Harriet’s first charity challenge in memory of her dad – having taken on a 250km run in 2020.

Harriet said: “When I last raised money in memory of my Dad, I’d taken on a 250km run which meant that this time I felt like it needed to be even bigger or somehow different.

"I’ve ran a few ultra marathons now and so I wanted a way to make it more of a challenge.

"I’ve always wanted to go to Scandinavia and so when I saw that Ultra X (which was founded by good friends of mine) were doing a race in Finland, I thought why not cycle there.”

When asked why she decided to raise money for the Ruth Strauss Foundation, Harriet said: “I got to know the charity at work – some of the research I’ve been involved in has been looking at lung cancer in people who have never smoked and this is exactly the type of work that RSF support.

"Ruth herself had lung cancer and had never smoked.

"I have also had patients in the past who have benefitted hugely from the family support that the charity provides.

"Offering guidance for families right from the time of diagnosis is so crucial and makes the world of difference.

"Often charities focus on bereavement support for children and so there is a big unmet need in the pre bereavement phase, and this is where RSF makes such a vital contribution.”

Speaking about the challenge before she set off, Harriet said: “My feelings swing between feeling really excited for a great adventure and feeling quite daunted by it.

"But that’s what makes a good challenge I think and I’d only ever want to raise money doing a challenge that really did challenge me, and I can assure everyone that this one has.

"The training has been pretty arduous over the winter months and when working full-time in the NHS.

“I haven’t set a fundraising target, mainly because I know there are so many worthy causes out there at the moment and even just raising awareness about lung cancer in never smokers and the great work of the Ruth Strauss Foundation feels like a success.

"Having said that, I raised £10,000 on my last challenge and if I could get anywhere near that this time, I’d be delighted.”

To donate to Harriet’s fundraising go to: https://www.justgiving.com/page/2024challenge

For more information about the Ruth Strauss Foundation go to: https://ruthstraussfoundation.com/

Harriet’s journey can be followed on Instagram (@londontolahti) and X, former Twitter (@harrietmcgrath).