Felpham business owner to help African charity with cycling challenge

Sarah Jouault will be spending three days in the saddle cycling around 60 Rotary clubs in the south.

She hopes her ride will raise 20,000 to benefit the Tanzanian children she has already spent two weeks helping. She was among a ten-strong team from Storrington Rotary Club which spent the time building a teacher's house for St Michael's Secondary School in Kilolo.

Sarah, who runs the Dimitri hair and beauty salon in Felpham Road, wants her two-wheeled marathon to raise the profile of the Rotary movement.

She said: "I want to raise money in a different way.

"Rotary is the biggest worldwide charity organisation which raises more money than any other, but people don't know very much about it."

The mileage she will cover is being kept secret because she is running a competition to guess the distance as part of her fundraising efforts.

Sarah, 55, will be using the drop-handlebar bike with which she has competed at the top in triathlons. She was a silver medallist in the national age championships last year and has represented Britain eight times.

This year's national triathlon was a disappointment because she suffered a serious accident while training on her bike. Riding at 25mph, she skidded on a wet surface.

Her injuries included facial damage, which required six stitches expertly put in by a doctor at Bognor Regis War Memorial Hospital's minor injuries unit.

But she has no fears about setting off from Chichester Rotary Club on October 11 and taking in all the members of 1,250 districts along the coast to Seaford and up to Caterham, Leatherhead and Guildford. Each of the clubs will present her with 100.

She recently moved from Felpham to Selsey and is using the longer distance '“ 16 miles each way '“ to cycle to and from her business to prepare for her sponsored ride.

The school in poverty-stricken Kilolo, with no electricity and a basic water supply and food, was started by Storrington Rotarian David Tilley and educates 300 children.

Sarah's visit saw her take out 32kg of donated clothing as well as a suitcase full of crayons, paints and balloons for the children.

It is just the latest in a series of fundraising endeavours which have seen her donate more than 60,000 in ten years to various good causes to earn a Paul Harris Fellowship from her fellow Rotarians.

What do you think? Send a letter to [email protected] or leave a comment below.

Click here to go back to Chichester news

Click here to go back to Bognor Regis news

Click here to go back to Midhurst and Petworth news

To tell us where in the world you are reading this story click here to add yourself to our readers' map.