Led by fourth-year medical student Ben Sutton, a group of students from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences recently cycled more than 200 miles in 48 hours to raise awareness of a local homeless charity.

Fundraising organiser Ben, along with fellow students Ethan Murphy, Rahul Anthony, Luis Zanini and Dan Biggs, cycled from Keele to Mount Snowdon, completed the 20-mile hike with nearly 2,000 metre elevation and then cycled back again within 48 hours to raise funds for Emmaus North Staffs. The charity works to tackle furniture poverty, homelessness and social exclusion across North Staffordshire by partnering with housing associations and local councils to offer free items to more than 850 households without access to essential furniture and appliances.

Ben says, “Studying medicine, I became aware of the impact homelessness can have on mental and physical health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, homelessness seems to be quite common both in Stoke and Newcastle-under-Lyme, so we thought it would be good to try and help. Luis also did a placement at Emmaus North Staffs through our course, and it’s a brilliant charity to support. Emmaus not only supports people by giving temporary aid, but it also helps people to find long-term accommodation and more permanent solutions.”

Although Ben admits that the group didn’t train specifically for the challenge, instead relying on their fitness levels from playing a mix of rugby, cricket and swimming, three of the students completed a 65-mile cycle before the event to get an idea of what to expect. However, Ben feels this may have lured the group into a false sense of security as the actual challenge ended up being a bit hillier than expected!

Ben says, “We left Keele at 11pm on the Friday evening, cycled 110 miles overnight to the Welsh coast for sunrise and then headed inland to get to Snowdon by 11am. We then joined another 30 medical students from other universities to complete the 20-mile hike up and down Snowdon as we thought, although they were not part of our fundraiser, it would be fun to get more people involved. We then cycled back through the hills near Llangollen and arrived back at campus having completed another 110-mile cycle just before 11pm on the Sunday evening.”

The group doubled their initial fundraising target of £500, and have since raised more than £1,000 for Emmaus North Staffs. However, this isn’t the first time that Ben has supported the charity. In 2023, he completed a series of challenges over the course of a week, including sleeping rough for several nights, taking part in a dodgeball tournament and cycling up and down Keele Hill for 24 hours. Over both fundraising attempts, the group has raised more than £2,000.

Ben is keen to raise even more money for the charity and is already planning future fundraisers. All members of the group have been given places in next year’s London Marathon, which will be the main focus for their 2025 fundraiser, with lots of smaller challenges also taking place in Shrewsbury. However, ideas are already brewing for the group’s fifth year challenge as well. Ben says, “For our fifth year, I’m thinking of doing as many laps of campus as we can in 24 hours. It’s a one-mile loop so it could be quite a good one!”

With two years until his graduation, Ben is starting to think about his future career after he leaves Keele. He says, “I’m hoping to work in humanitarian medicine, providing medical care in natural disasters and war zones, and expedition medicine if I can, alongside working for the NHS in some capacity when I’ll be back in the country. With two more years until I qualify, it feels a bit far away at the moment, but it’s nice to have a goal!”

Find out more about Emmaus North Staffs here and further information about Ben’s fundraiser can be found here.