The Trustees the UK Lift Industry Charity would like to thank 21st Century Lifts engineer, Steve Piper and his wife Lisa, for raising £1171.00 for Charity by participating in the London to Brighton bicycle race on Sunday 21st June 2009.

Steve had made an appeal in Issue 58 of Elevation Magazine for industry friends, acquaintances and colleagues to contact him and offer their sponsorship in aid of the industry charity.

Steve commented at the time: "I have been in the industry since leaving school in 1980, I started as a Kone apprentice, worked in Australia for Express Lifts, moved back to UK and spent some good years at Cable Lifts; and for my sins have ended up at 21st Century Lifts.

"My wife and I decided to support our industry charity because we feel that the philosophy of having a fund available to assist industry colleagues in times of trouble is a worthy cause".

The UK Lift Industry Charity is registered with The Charities Commission and has the following stated objectives: ‘The relief of financial hardship and provision of appropriate support where required to industry colleagues and their families who have been injured whilst working or employed within the industry’.

Steve and Lisa’s day started at 04.30am, they left home at 05.30am to meet the rest of the team at Clapham for a 06.30am start. When the bikes were taken off of the truck at Clapham it was clear that Stan Blatch (who supposedly had spent an hour the previous evening checking his bike) had a puncture.

They set off at about 07.00am and rode the 1st stint to Chipstead in good time until the gears on Lisa’s bike packed up, they had to make a stop at the ‘bike doctor’ who had them back on the road within an hour. They then rode steadily to their next stop at Turners Hill for a quick drink and then on to the infamous Ditchling Beacon. Steve said: "This was a killer - we walked up, which was just as hard as riding apparently, the only sounds that you could hear on the ascent was the sound of heavy breathing and the odd expletive (mainly from me)".

From then on it was all down hill into Brighton, and they crossed the finish line in 5 hours 55 minutes. Steve said: "I rang Stan from the finish to see where he was, he had had 4 punctures and a new tyre and said that if he had found a river he would have thrown the bike in and got a train home, he didn’t and finished in 8 hours 30 minutes".

Well done Steve and Lisa!