World Champ’s Welshpool pit stop on marathon fundraiser

World-champion triathlete and a three-time world record holder, Kate Strong, has set herself and her partner the challenge of building bamboo bikes and cycling 600 miles around Wales to raise £10,000 for mental health charity, bigmoose.

Kate, and her partner Kieren Windsor, will leave bigmoose café in Cardiff on September 11 and cycle anticlockwise around the circumference of Wales, with the couple relying on the hospitality of strangers as they complete the tour.

One of the planned overnight stops is Welshpool on the first night (September 11), and they are on the look-out for someone to open up their home to them for the night.

Using bamboo, a renewable and carbon-effective product, for the bikes they have filed down themselves from six individual pieces, they hope companies and individuals will realise that “we can change to a more sustainable way of living without compromising performance or activities”.

Kate, 43, only started training for athletic success in her early 30s following a relationship breakdown that forced her to re-evaluate her life and focus on her passions.

Within two years she was crowned world champion in long-distance triathlon in 2014 and subsequently broke three world records in static cycling in 2021. Kieren, 49, has never participated in any solo sports and only recently took up cycling.

“My motivation is to change the way we interact in life,” said Kate. “People are struggling, nature is struggling, and through these challenging times of climate change and feelings of isolation, it’s even more important to think outside the box and stretch ourselves.

“My background isn’t unique, until my thirties I was working as an engineer and hadn’t partaken in any sport competitively since my teens.

“It was only through a cliff-edge moment, which left me financially in debt and emotionally distraught that I accepted my life needed to change. Fast-forward two years and I achieved the world championship in women's long-distance triathlon, and even though I have days where I struggle and self-doubt, I know that I’m on the right path.”

If you can offer bed and board to Kate and Kieren for the night of September 11, email hello@katestrong.global. 

Katye’s Just Giving page is https://www.justgiving.com/tourdewales2022 and for more information about her upcoming adventure, visit https://katestrong.global/adventuresl.