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‘I was lost and grieving, I needed a challenge’ – Piggy March on 1100km charity cycle ride

Pippa Roome Pippa Roome

    • Piggy March has spoken about why she’s taking part in the 1100km Cycle4Caroline bike ride, in aid of Spinal Research and the British Eventing (BE) Support Trust, and in memory of her sister-in-law Caroline March.

    The Badminton and Burghley winner said at the launch of the event yesterday (19 August): “I’ve been eventing for 25 or 30 years and I love our sport, but I’ve realised over the past few years how fine the line is between enjoying a wonderful sport – not worrying about anything but whether you’ve won a rosette or had two fences down – and what really matters, which is family life, the people you care about. And I’ve seen how easily things can go wrong.”

    She added: “I hate exercise, but I was mentally lost at the beginning of the year. I didn’t have any horses to aim for the Olympics and I was lost and grieving. I needed a challenge.”

    Cycle4Caroline will involved Piggy March, her husband Tom and six other riders cycling from Blair Castle to London from 20-30 November, with the aim of raising £500,000 for the charities involved.

    “It was important we did something that is going to be tough – to say, ‘Shut up, you’re lucky to have legs that still work, get to the top of that hill’,” said Piggy. “It’s important to put something back into the sport, to help other families in the future and give people the best possible quality of life after a serious accident.”

    Piggy said she and bicycles are not natural friends: “I’d not been on a bike for years before we started training and one of my first memories is falling off a bike and breaking my nose when I was about eight years old.”

    She added that she is used to sitting on a horse so the forward position of being crouched over handlebars is a different sort of conditioning for her body.

    “I keep having to get off and lie down,” she said.

    The riders are scheduled to arrive at the Savoy Hotel in London on 30 November, in time for the BE Support Trust ball at the venue that evening.

    “I said to Tom, ‘Can’t we arrive a few days earlier?’ If we get to the Savoy for the ball and are still able to walk and talk and hold a glass of champagne, it’ll be a small miracle!” said Piggy.

    Find out how to support Cycle4Caroline

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    Pippa Roome
    Pippa Roome

    H&H magazine editor and eventing editor
    Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
    Pippa Roome

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