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Video: Aston Villa fans to ride single speed penny farthings from Pride Park to Villa Park for charity

Every penny counts

Two Aston Villa fans will tomorrow ride 50 miles from Pride Park to Villa Park on penny farthings. Father and son Alistair and Sebastian Cope from Velo Vintage are raising awareness and funds for the club’s charity, the Aston Villa Foundation.

“It looks comical – I do get that,” said Alistair, but added: “It’s great for us because it makes everyone else happy at the same time.”

Alistair and Sebastian usually make some sort of sponsored penny farthing trip at Easter (branding it ‘every penny counts’), but this year decided to hold off for Villa’s final home match.

Although they now live in the West Country, the family originally came from Aston in the late 19th Century. This was pretty much the penny farthing’s heyday and also the time when Aston Villa was founded. You can probably guess the exact year from the fact they’re aiming to raise £1,874.

The Aston Villa Foundation runs a number of projects to address social issues within Birmingham and beyond. You can donate here.

Later this year, Mark Beaumont – the man who cycled round the world in 80 days – is going to make an attempt on the penny farthing hour record.

He said: “I have been training hard around the parks of Edinburgh and you get some funny looks. The hour record is 23 and a half miles, which is pretty nuts on a penny farthing, but I have been quite enjoying not training ultra-endurance – this is just me and my mates wanting to do something eccentric and daft.”

Beaumont previously cycled the 100-mile Etape Royale route on a penny farthing in 2015.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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5 comments

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brooksby | 5 years ago
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1874? Wouldn’t those gentlemen be wearing bowlers rather than top hats? I think toppers were out of fashion for everyone except at dress occasions by then...?

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ConcordeCX replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

1874? Wouldn’t those gentlemen be wearing bowlers rather than top hats? I think toppers were out of fashion for everyone except at dress occasions by then...?

is this the start of another lively cycling headwear discussion? I hope you gave some graphs to prove that. A pickelhauber would be much more effective.

Avatar
brooksby replied to ConcordeCX | 5 years ago
0 likes

ConcordeCX wrote:

brooksby wrote:

1874? Wouldn’t those gentlemen be wearing bowlers rather than top hats? I think toppers were out of fashion for everyone except at dress occasions by then...?

is this the start of another lively cycling headwear discussion? I hope you gave some graphs to prove that. A pickelhauber would be much more effective.

It would (that point might be useful for ramming speed), but it lacks  the low profile of a Coke. A bowler is much more aero...

Avatar
wycombewheeler | 5 years ago
2 likes

At least they're keeping it real. I hate when people put sram etap on their penny farthing. Nearly as bad as Shimano on a Bianchi.

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FrankH | 5 years ago
3 likes

"...single speed penny farthings..."

I thought all ordinaries were single speed.

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