72 holes of golf and 60 miles by bike – in one day!

Beverley & East Riding Golf Club gent’s captain Pat Howdle will lead a quartet into an epic golf and cycling challenge next month.

Pat, who took over as captain in February, will be joined by Matt Sutcliffe, Doug Sharp and Carl Johnson on the first tee on the Westwood at 5am on Friday 1st July.

The foursome will complete a round of golf then hop on their bikes and ride 15 miles to Hornsea Golf Club to play another 18 holes, before returning back to Beverley on their bikes.

If that wasn’t enough, Pat and team will be doing it all again, meaning they will complete four rounds of golf at two different courses whilst also cycling 60 miles in the same day.

On top of this, they will be competing against a quartet from Hornsea, led by former Beverley professional Rich Pace, who will undertake the same challenge in the opposite direction.

He told Beverley Life: “This challenge is epic and, on top of the physical element, the mental toughness we will need is going to be tasking too.

“We’ve been practising, going up to Beverley early in the morning, playing a round, cycling to Hornsea and back after another round.

“However, it dawned on us after our practice just how difficult it is going to be as we realised how stiff we were once we got off our bikes.

“Thankfully, we’re all keen cyclists, so hopefully we will be able to manage and we’ve got the added motivation of beating Rich’s team too.”

Pat, Matt, Doug and Carl will be racing the Hornsea four and also raising money for Space2BHeard, a Hull-based charity which offers low cost or free counselling to those who can’t afford regular services, which is Pat’s captain’s charity of the year.

In addition to the golf and cycling, Pat is challenging fellow golfers and members of the public to guess how long it will take them to finish, with prizes handed out to the nearest guesses.

“We’ve had people guessing between 12 and 16 hours, but we honestly don’t know long it is going to take us,” he added.

“Normally, you’d be looking at up to four hours for a round of golf, but we’ll be aiming for nearer two hours for our first one to get ahead.

“The only help we will be getting is that our golf bags will be taken by car between courses, we will be walking every round with bags on our backs, not using buggies.

“There is the facility to submit your guess at the golf club, whilst we also have an online donation page.

“Space2BHeard is a fantastic mental healthy charity and one I am supporting this year as captain.”

To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/patrick-howdle