PC Rob Tindall
A Cambridgeshire Police Federation member is set to cycle over 400 miles in four days as he aims to raise money for another emergency service operating in the county.
PC Rob Tindall will take on The Adrian Flux Lap of Anglia, a cycling route stretching through three cities and five counties, from tomorrow (Wednesday, 21 August) to Saturday, 24 August. The organised event runs annually and supports the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), the UK’s first 24-hour emergency medical helicopter service.
The physically demanding challenge will require cyclists to cover 435 miles in distance and climb heights equalling half of Mount Everest and totalling 14,167 feet over the course of its duration.
Rob says he is looking forward to the test: “Cycling is a passion I have had for a long time, and I use it as a release from my work life.
“However, although I still cycle regularly, I had got out of the habit of really challenging myself. So, I wanted to get back into that side of things, and I think the Lap of Anglia is a big way of doing that.
“I’ve got no doubt it will be tough, but I think getting involved in a significant challenge straight away is the right thing for me to do.”
The 46-year-old added that despite throwing himself in at the deep end as he makes a return to cycling trials, he has been undertaking his own individual feats to train for the Lap.
“I have done a few substantial rides now, all with a clear target, so I get back into that frame of mind. I completed 200 miles around the Norfolk border in one day back in June, so that gives me confidence I can do 100 a day, albeit in four consecutive days,” he said.
A member of Cambridge city centre’s neighbourhood policing team, Rob also leads Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s Operation Cadence, an ongoing community policing project geared towards tackling cycle crime on the roads. This has enabled him to combine his passion with his job and oversee the security marking of over 2800 bikes at public events in the city centre over the last year.
Additionally, his duties as a police officer have seen him collaborate with the EAAA on a number of occasions, whose efforts he paid tribute to.
“The EAAA are a life-saving service that covers Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, which is geographically very rural – so, it is therefore very important to have such mobile medical help in the air.
“Every time I have been required to work with them, my interactions with their crew have been second-to-none and many of my police colleagues say the same. They help us as much as we help them, and there is that good professional relationship there, so I am honoured to be raising money for them.”
The constable underlined the EAAA’s need for financial donations, explaining that the service does not receive regular government funding and instead must raise millions of pounds itself each year, with call-outs costing an average of £3,750.
“They might not be the first people you think of when you think of an emergency service, but from seeing their work up close, I can vouch for the incredible work they do – you never know when you might need them,” he continued.
The Lap, which has raised over £233,000 for its cause since it began in 2013, will start and finish at the EAAA’s Norwich base of Helimed House on a round trip.
Rob ended: “I would like to thank my police colleagues for all of their backing so far and for any to come in the future. I am very excited for the challenge, both for my personal goals and, more importantly, for the charitable goals of helping a service whose work really compliments that of Cambridgeshire Constabulary.”
Federation members can support Rob by visiting his JustGiving page.