Leukaemia survivor and former footballer, Geoff Thomas, is to feature in an hour-long documentary on ITV4 this Tuesday, 21 July (2000 hrs). The programme follows Thomas leading four fellow cancer survivors and his former team-mate, England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright, on the gruelling 3,500km Tour de France route in 2007.
To be screened as part of ITV4’s ‘No Limits’ series around the coverage of this year’s Tour de France and produced by Ridley Scott Films, the documentary charts the inspirational journey made by five men who wanted to push themselves to the limit after beating various forms of cancer.
The programme celebrates their endurance, their triumph over illness and their sheer determination to conquer the physical and emotional challenges of both the Tour and their own experience of a disease that affects one in three people in the UK and kills eight million worldwide every year.
This is a documentary about personal courage, the camaraderie of blokes bonding out on their bikes, shared heroism in beating cancer and completing one of sport’s most testing challenges. It’s also funny – a group of blokes cycling 3,500km has its moments.
It is a reality show with a twist – the reality for these men is that they all looked death in the face and chose life.
The Wheel Heroes (left to right): Dan Ellmore (support rider), Steve Timmins, Dave Granger, Mike Grisenthwaite, Phillip Bullas, Pete Slater (support rider), Ian Whittell (support rider) and Geoff Thomas
THE CYCLISTS
Geoff Thomas - ex-footballer, survived leukaemia with a bone marrow transplant.
Ian Wright - ex-footballer rides the first two stages by eating crushed up chocolate fingers.
Phil Bullas - accountant from Solihull, West Midlands, had non-Hodgkins lymphona.
Dave Granger - a cabinet-maker from Evesham, Worcestershire completes the Tour on bowls of custard - he can’t eat anything else - he’s had throat cancer.
Mike Grisenthwaite - Director of Cyclists Fighting Cancer from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire who also has survived non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Steve Timmins - design draughtsman from Wolverhampton - a bowel cancer survivor.
Support riders: Ian Whittell, Pete Slater, Dan Ellmore
THE JOURNEY
21 stages over 23 days – 21 mountains – 4 countries – 12 hours in the saddle – 7,000 calories per day – but no road closures or police escort!
The film starts with the Le Grand Depart weekend. The city prologue and London to Canterbury. On home turf, in high spirits and a blaze of publicity, the boys board the ferry.
Reality kicks in – in Belgium. Rain, strong headwind, grey skies. Realisation dawns of tough times ahead. Ian Wright struggles to keep up. He hangs onto the support Land Rover when it gets too much. After a nasty fall and a near collision with a truck, he’s forced to provide ‘honest’ commentary from the Land Rover instead: “Haven’t trained hard enough. It’s my own fault! But I want people to see how much this hurt me and appreciate just how hard it is,” says Wright.
He is clearly blown away by the cancer survivors’ stories – in awe of their sheer guts – at times rendering him speechless, but for the most part Ian was on vintage form, his banter helped sooth riders’ pain.
The juxtaposition of drama and comedy is a feature of the film – as well as the determination: “When you’re battling against cancer it really broadens your limits,” explains Thomas.
Les Grandes Alpes demonstrate this - the team approach with trepidation and highlights the irony that cancer is a mountain they have to climb every day. The focus is on Mike Grisenthwaite: “I’m scared today.” He hauls his huge frame up the mountains, even though his heart’s been weakened by chemotherapy. “If the Tour de France was settled on riders’ ability to suffer in the saddle, then Mike would be in the yellow jersey every day,” says Wright.
They cycle on, surviving on mashed bananas and custard, rice pudding, jelly babies, chocolate and Factor 50 sunscreen. Nothing was off limits to the crew – tears and tantrums, applying ‘Friction Zone’ for the chafing, falls, crashes, Thomas’ emergency trip to hospital – all with a backdrop of magnificent scenery, snow-topped peaks to fields of sunflowers.
The Pyrenees – dramatic 14 hours in the saddle and an 11pm start in pitch black and dense fog. The team finally race down the Champs-Elysees in Paris in yellow jerseys to an emotional reunion with family and friends. Humbling to witness:
“I felt I needed to do something huge. To prove to myself that I could get on with things, without the disease controlling my life. I want to do everything in my power to raise money for clinical research so that we can create a situation where everyone has the chance to recover,” says Thomas.