In July 2002 the Cann family of six (Jim - dad, Sam - mum, daughters Calamaty-Jayne and Haby-Blu, sons Capabilaty-Jack and Bow-Jango) cycled from John O'Groats to Lands End in aid of Cystic Fibrosis. They took 22 days starting on Sunday 30th June and completed the ride on the 21st July. They hold the record for the youngest child to cycle this distance, Bow-Jango, who has Cystic Fibrosis himself, was 7 years and 9 months old when they arrived at Lands End. In order to have maximum flexibility in how many miles they cycled each day they had a support vehicle and caravan driven by several friends. The trip was not without incident, the van broke down before they started cycling, one of the support crew broke his collar bone, Calamaty-Jayne broke her elbow in a tumble with Bow, they got soaked, sunburnt and saddle sore but had a wonderful time meeting some great people and riding through glorious countryside. There are some diary pages written by the support crew as well as some words from the kids which will give you some idea of their adventure. In the final week as they passed through home territory (they live in Devon) they became media celebrities with tv, radio and press interviews. They cycled 1015.9 miles in all and spent 98 hours and 53 minutes in the saddle (aren't these modern gadgets wonderful).
Bow-Jango's Diary Capabilaty-Jack's Diary Calamaty-Jayne's Diary Haby-Blu's Diary
We decided to cycle the route in the opposite way to most people to finish in the south because we live in Devon. On the whole the gamble paid off and we only had to cope with serious headwind on a couple of days. The other decision to make is whether to take less direct but less busy routes or to take the main roads and cope with the traffic. We weren't consistent on this and alternated between the two depending on mood and schedule. We started on the A9 for the first few days which is not a wide road but is nowhere near as busy as we had been led to believe. We turned off left to Nigg and caught the ferry from there to Cromarty, using country roads to get back to the A9 just before the bridge into Inverness. We then headed east to Culloden, used cycle routes almost to Nairn then south on the A939 and A93 through the Grampians and on to Perth and Edinburgh, across to Lockerbie and Gretna Green. Through Carlisle to Lancaster, Penrith, Wigan, Hereford, Ross on Wye, across the Severn Bridge to Bristol, across the Avonmouth Bridge then south west to Tiverton, Exeter, Crediton, Okehampton, Bodmin and Lands End.
The map on the right shows where we stopped each night.
To the best of our knowledge the youngest rider to complete the course prior to July 2002 is nine year old Chloe Ingham from Ribchester, Lancashire, who cycled 1,056 miles with her mother and her two sisters in 2001. For about 10 seconds on July 21st 2002 the record was held by Capabilaty-Jack Cann who was aged 8, but then his 7 year old brother Bow-Jango Cann went over the line and took the record. The boys cycled unaided on their own bikes from John O'Groats to Lands End in 22 days. They rode with their teenage sisters Haby-Blu and Calamaty-Jayne, and parents Jim and Sam.
The fastest time according to the Road Records Association is 44 hours, 4 mins and 20 secs !! I think that G Butler's record is safe from us for a few years !!
A comprehensive list of many sites on the web describing the ride.