A decade of support – 12 amateur jockeys chosen to ride in the 10th Ernest Cooper Macmillan ‘Ride of their Lives’ charity race
Twelve dedicated amateur jockeys have been selected to ride in the 2022 Macmillan Ride of their Lives charity race at York on Saturday 11th June. The race started in 2012 and sees members of the public completing six months of jockey training and fundraising before riding in front of around 25,000 people in the iconic race. Each jockey raises at least £4,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support and since its inception over £1.2 million has been raised for people living with cancer.
Bella Brown is a Visual Merchandise and Marketing Manager at Department Store Browns in North Yorkshire. She was inspired to apply for the race after her mother took part in the race. “As I child I watched my mum prepare and train for the race, I felt inspired to take on the challenge myself,” said Brown.
“I’ve ridden horses my entire life and horseracing has become a great passion of mine. I’ve been so lucky to have York Racecourse on my doorstep, in my opinion it is the greatest racecourse in the world.
“My objective with taking part in this race is to raise a substantial amount of money that will make a positive impact on people’s lives, like many people my family has been touched by cancer, my aunty passed away from cancer at a very young age, and my godfather died from cancer in December, I’ll be riding in their memory and honour.”
Full list of riders:
- George Atkinson (Northallerton)
- Bella Brown (York)
- Samantha Brown (Malton)
- Jane Horner (Easingwold)
- Issy Saxby (Ripon)
- Carolyn Woods (Bedale)
- Michael Andrews (Petersfield)
- Lucy Horan (Newmarket)
- Kerry Humphries (Burry St Edmunds)
- Shay McDonnell (Northern Ireland)
- Wendy Normile (Ireland)
- Morgan Faye Prescott (Cumbria)
William Derby, Chief Executive at York Racecourse, added: “Ten years ago, we couldn’t have predicted that the ‘Ride of Their Lives’ amateur race would grow to become one of the most successful charity horse races in the UK.
“Congratulations to the twelve intrepid riders selected to take part this year, we wish them the best of luck and hope they’ll enjoy every minute of this once in a lifetime opportunity.
“York Racecourse are incredibly proud of our long running partnership with Macmillan. Through tremendous support from individuals and organisations we raised a remarkable £300,000 in 2021 which included half this sum being raised by the charity race.”
Although this marks the tenth year of The Macmillan Charity Raceday the partnership has been going for over 50 years where £9 million has been raised for people living with cancer.
Megan Hayman Tansley from Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “It takes real dedication, bravery and perseverance to put yourself forward for this challenge and at Macmillan we’re so appreciative of these twelve amazing people, we wish them the best of luck.
“Macmillan Cancer Support receives no government funding and relies almost entirely on donations – we simply couldn’t help the growing number of people who need us, without the support and generosity of the riders and their supporters.”
The Ernest Cooper Macmillan ‘Ride of Their Lives’ race will take place on Saturday 11th June 2022. To book tickets for the day visit the York Racecourse website here. To support the riders by donating to their JustGiving page visit here.
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