On Sunday 15 June, Rishul Karia, who is pursuing an MPhil in Quantative Climate and Environmental Sciences at Clare Hall, completed a 87 kilometre cycle from Clapham Common to the Brighton Seafront. His team included Gosha Geogdzhayev, a student at Queens College, Louis Watson, a friend from Warwick, and Boinko, their beloved penguin mascot. Throughout the cycle, Rishul’s team raised £650 and counting for SANCCOB, a charity based in South Africa that has been caring for injured, ill, and abandoned seabirds since 1968. Their mission is crucial for protecting African penguins that have now been classified as ‘critically endangered’ due primarily to rising ocean temperatures from climate change.

Rishul co-founded the Climate Science Special Interest Group at Clare Hall, alongside Birgit Rogalla (Research Fellow) and Polina Sevastyanova (MPhil Student). Boinko is the mascot of the Climate Science SIG, and an African penguin, which inspired Rishul and his team to give back to an organisation that protects seabird populations.

Read more about Rishul’s exciting cycle journey and ways to support SANCCOB below.

We arrived at the start line at 9.30am on Sunday at Clapham Common and, due to logistical constraints with bikes on trains, we all elected to wear backpacks, with Boinko poking his head out of the back of mine. The extra weight provided an additional challenge to the 87km that lay ahead.

Further to this, in terms of my personal preparation, it consisted of playing in the annual Clare v St Hugh’s Oxford football and cricket games the day before, which began to take its toll with each passing hill. However, at each checkpoint the streams of support flying in from across the globe via our donations page, coupled with the motivation provided by the general public passing through the quant English villages, gave us an extra boost. In fact, our biggest challenge came approximately 70km in with the daunting Ditchling Beacon hill, a 2.7km, 6% gradient ascent that 90% of riders walk the whole way up. With the thought of the penguins we were cycling for etched in our minds, and shouts of encouragement from those walking up, almost all the ascent was completed upon our bikes, a feat that was rewarded with a well-deserved ice cream break at the top.

After 8 gruelling hours we reached the finish line, and I have to say the Brighton seafront was a perfect place for it, cheered home in the sunshine by spectators with Boinko crossing the line flying as all penguins should. He was even presented with his own medal! After taking the obligatory medal photos, the only thing left to do was jump in the sea to cool off in true African penguin spirit.

All in all, it was a wonderful (if painful) experience with a big shout out going to Gosha and Louis for helping me through the cycle, and most importantly, we raised an incredible amount of money for a charity whose work so often goes unrecognised. We have kept the donations page live until Sunday 29^th June, with any and all donations very welcome and incredibly appreciated – https://www.givengain.com/project/rishul-raising-funds-for-sanccob-104818 ‘