24 hour 'Compass Challenge' ride raises over £3k for charity

Published: 10 August 2020

Posing at Dunnet Head before the ride
Parked up in Scotland
The ride will help out local Scouts
The ride presented plenty of challenges
No time for camping - there is riding to be done
Arriving in Land's End after 30 hours of riding

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Two R5K members raised more than £3000 for Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and 16th Warrington West (1st Burtonwood) Scout Group by attempting to visit all four corners of Mainland Britain in 24 hours.

Labelled the ’24hr Compass Challenge’, best friends Kai Samlofski and Mark Isherwood left John O’ Groats on July 18 at midday heading for Lowestoft, Suffolk. From there they rode onto St Davids in Wales, before finishing at Land’s End the following day.

R5K members target UK ‘four corners’ in 24hr charity ride

First published on 10 November 2019 by Dan Sutherland

A pair of motorcycling mates are planning to ride to all four corners of the UK in under 24 hours to raise money for charity.

Kai Samlofski, 47, of Newton-Le-Willows, and Mark Isherwood, 44, from Congleton, begin their epic journey at John O’ Groats, Scotland, before heading south and east to Lowestoft, Suffolk, west to St David’s in Pembrokeshire, and then south to Land’s End in a ride they’re calling ‘The 24hr Compass Challenge.’

“You hear about people riding from John O’ Groats to Land’s End in a certain time and I thought that’d be nice, but everyone’s done that, so I thought about doing this instead,” Samlofski told MCN.

“I just said to Mark: ‘Let’s just do it. There’s nothing stopping us. If we raise some money, then happy days, if we don’t… we’ve still accomplished something.’”

Their ride begins at 9am on Saturday, 20 June, 2020, the longest day of the year and will cover more than 1400 miles – so the pair will have their work cut out to achieve the distance inside the 24-hour time limit.

They’re raising money for two separate causes, splitting the total down the middle. Samlofski is riding in support of 16th Warrington West (1st Burtonwood) Scout Group.

His son is in the group and they desperately need new equipment to support the growing membership.

Isherwood will be supporting Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, in memory of his late son who was treated there 10 years ago for a heart condition.

“I’m a big fan of Lyndon Poskitt and he inspired me to tackle this big trip,” Samlofski told MCN. “There’s nobody better to emulate when it comes to trying to raise money for the scouts and Alder Hey.”

Biking buddy Isherwood added: “We pretty much do everything together on our bikes and so we said we might as well combine it and raise some money for Alder Hey, too. It just seems like a good opportunity to give something back.”