Haddenham man launches fundraiser dedicated to his friends killed cycling in Bucks

A Haddenham man has launched a fundraising project in memory of his two friends from the same Bucks town who were killed on the roads.

David Finch is completing an endurance fundraiser, on the three-year anniversary of the deaths of Haddenham residents, Andy Coles and Damien Natale.

Damien and Andy were killed when a Rennie’s Volkswagen Golf on the A40 Wycombe Road in Studley Green, drove into them from behind at 50 miles per hour on 1 June 2020.

They were training for a fundraising project of their own when they were suddenly killed by a driver who admitted to ending their lives carelessly in a criminal court.

David is walking 650 miles and 115,000 feet in a month, finishing on 30 June, which was also Damien’s birthday.

"I am walking, not cycling as cycling just isn't the same anymore without them,” he said.

David chose the very specific distance as it is the length from his home in Haddenham to John O’Groats.

He aims to replicate the feat of climbing Everest every week for four weeks.

David added: “Andy and Dame never got the chance to deliver their amazing support and fundraising, so I am going to do my best to walk in their shoes.”

With that in mind David’s chosen charity is Cyclists Fighting Cancer a cause close to the hearts of his two late friends.

Every £800 raised for the not-for-profit organisation fund a new specially adapted bike, which can be used by a child diagnosed with the brutal disease.

David hopes that by the end of June he will have raised enough money to fund 30 new bikes for the cause.

His Just Giving page can be found here.

Throughout the month of June, David plans on keeping people updated on how his trek’s are going by live-blogging on a LinkedIn page which can be found here.

Speaking ahead of the cyclists’ killer’s sentencing, Helen Atherton, partner of Andy Coles, said in 2021: “Damien and Andy were great friends and raised hundreds of thousands of pounds through cycling.”