The ITU Team is taking part in Grand Canal Challenge for the third year in a row and we are all excited about it - the previous editions were very good fun!

Our unit is always extremely busy and we don’t get to spend a lot of time together out of work. Grand Canal Challenge is a great opportunity to spend some time together whilst being active.

It’s amazing how people from different backgrounds wanted to take part and join the team. We are nurses and doctors from the Harefield Intensive Therapy Unit but people from other wards are very welcome to join the team - we have members from cardiology, transplant and theatres. Also family and friends have joined the team to support us!

Other departments should get involved because doing some activity with colleagues is a very nice way of knowing each other and getting involved to support our amazing Hospitals!

We can’t wait to be at the start and get on our bikes, cycling through Chelsea on a very quiet Sunday morning is very fascinating but arriving in the countryside of Harefield is even better! The beer samples on the routes are an extra boost for the team’s morale.

The team is very competitive... We have professional cyclists, joggers and marathon finishers. Mima last year beat everyone (so she says!) despite a funny fall at the beginning, Emanuele took the lead half way motivating the group, Abbie has an extremely good pace and Fernando was impressive… Somehow!

We are looking forward to start the challenge, hoping for nice weather and to inspire more people to join the event.