Leigh Leopards Academy Charity Bike Ride

As some will know myself and my amazing fiancee Michelle are huge supporters of the Leigh Leopards academy, raising money to support our local club academy in bringing through and securing the top local talent for the future of our club, we are part of a commitee that strives to make a difference by coming together to throw ideas around, in order to generate themed events to raise money.

Last year a budding group of walkers set off from Bolton Wanderers stadium walking to the Robin Hood Pub in Pennington to raise as much money as possible by walking the 10 miles, once at the Robin Hood a huge fun day was already firmly underway, with live music, stalls, entertainment etc.

This year i wanted to push ourselves a bit harder so I put it out there that I intended to cycle from Leigh Sports Village home to the mighty Leigh Leopards over to the Warrington Wolves Stadium, t\hen continue across the borough to St Helens Saints Stadium followed then by our arch rivals Wigan Warriors Stadium back to the Sports Village then to the Robin Hood Pub to enjoy the fun day ahead.

The ride would cover 40.19 miles in total, of course I wanted to raise as much as much as possible for this superb cause, so I drafted in several other’s including Derek Beaumont owner of the Leigh Leopards (eventually dropped out due to a broken wrist) his lovely wife Laura, Brian Beaumont, Dean & Gill Williams, Jimmy O’Dwyer, Chris Thomas, Paul Mahon, Alan Hadcroft, Andy Sharrock, Anthony Murray, Chris Wilkinson, Dave Roberts, Moz, Wayne Standish, Big Sean and an amazing support crew of Phil Parmley & Ricky Fiddaman to name but a few.

Laura Beaumont and Debeau Sportswear designed a top with business sponsors on, which all riders wore for the event, and raised a great amount of money, i shared a justgiving page for us to raise money (which is still active and will be shared at the end of this post) the stage was set! The shirts were ready to go! Momentum was building all we need now was the day to hurry up and arrive, Saturday 23rd May 2026 was our chosen day, soon as we arrive back at the Robin Hood pub the fun day would commence.

Saturday 23rd May 2026, Ride Day!

7.30am on Saturday 23rd May at an overcast Leigh Sports Village but fairly warm, a crazy group of people gathered to do the ride together to raise as much as we can, for our academy, Michelle followed me up to LSV bringing two packs of water for the riders, Laura brought the shirts as well as the 10ft banner to unfurl at each stadium, also waiting at the Sports Village was our pit crew travelling around with us, carrying water, spares, food, the banner and a suitcase full of laughs. At 8am we were off on our routing all in brilliant spirits setting off on our quest to cycle 40 miles for a great cause, bikes tuned, bottles filled lets go!

Started on our routing up through Lowton to the Red Lion towards Kenyon Lane to the Plough Pub onwards towards the M6 crossing over the top coming into the stadium through the estates, once arriving at the stadium we waited for our pit crew to arrive? sadly they didn’t lol so our first picture was minus the banner, so we continued on our journey cycling a large part along Sankey Valley rideway, until we reached the end where we had to navigate two flights of steps to get us up to the road!

We continued on travelling towards St Helens Stadium once we arrived our pit crew was ready with water, electrolytes etc the ladies travelling with us were desperate for the bathroom, sadly stadium staff would not allow them to use the toilet!! So off to the hedges they went guess when you’ve gotta go, you have to go!

From St Helens we started to head to Wigan ready for the big hill taking us through Billinge (yikes) we crossed the East Lancs Road at Carmill Dam then started our climb, its around 2.0 miles steadily climbing up and up, really felt it in my legs broke a proper sweat on that sector, once through that it was downwards towards “The Pies” stadium, we arrived at the Wigan Warriors Stadium opened our Leigh Leopards banner and took some pictures.

Home straight back to Wigan took us through the town center, over Birky Bank, then Atherton Road all the way down through Hindley, turning right onto Westleigh Lane followed it down to the Bypass, then cruised into the stadium for our last photograph and a well earned and desperately need pee! We was greeted there by Derek Beaumont who cheered our arrival in, as well as catching it on video.

From there short cycle to the Robin Hood Pub in the sunshine to the fun day organised for the academy fundraiser, it was fabulous to see all the first team players sat around, peolpe were excited to see their heroes, such as Josh Charnley, Davy Armstrong, Tesi Niu, Umyla Hanley, Lachlan Lam, Big Joe Ofahengaue, Robbie Mulhern, Frankie Halton, Isaac Liu, Aaron Pene, Jacob Alick-Wiencke, Innes Senior, Gareth O’Brien and of course our amazing coach Adrian Lam. It really made the day these guys taking time out to share the day, and meet the fans on a personal 1-1 basis really meant alot to all that were there.

All in all a fabulous day was had I really enjoyed the bike ride and it has really opened up a new world to me, when I’m cycling i’m relaxed at one with the bike, the day not only generated a brillant amount of money £2070.00 but also met a brilliant group of people, and found a new inspiring pastime that not only clears my head but keeps me fit and active.