Katie Honey, UK

Sponsored Bike ride

"From the 4th to the 11th April this year I cycled 250 miles from Padstow to Bristol to raise money to protect the Amazon rainforest. In total I raised £1,200.

The continuing destruction of the Amazon rainforest has always haunted me, ever since I had watched a video about rainforest destruction in primary school.

As a single sixteen year old I felt there wasn’t a great deal I could do to save the rainforest, but I felt that if I could do something to help then I should. I decided on a whim one day that a sponsored event would raise a bit of money, and cycling was an eco-friendly thing to do.

I held a school assembly to publicize the burning of the Amazon rainforest and asked as many teachers and students to sponsor me as I could. I also asked acquaintances at Exeter Cathedral, and various friends and relatives. I was surprised and moved by the number of people who sponsored me who before then I had barely known.

The ride itself was fairly strenuous, although my dad accompanied me. On day 3 we were cycling through snow (I was wearing shorts and suncream), we had two punctures in two days, and once Dad cycled 10 miles out of a B&B with the room keys in his pocket. On day 6 I’d caught a vomiting bug, and threw up three times. Apart from that, I couldn’t have been happier as I knew that 24 acres of rainforest would be safe because of my work, and the thought kept me going until Bristol Temple Meads station."

Katie Honey