Cycling from Blackburn to Blackpool, a group of 25 cyclists have been given a heroes welcome after they successfully raised more than £50,000 funding needed for the new Islamic Education Center.
The riders embarked on their ride to Blackpool in the early hours of Sunday and returned to Blackburn late afternoon.
“This has been a fantastic effort by not just who took on the challenge but all the helpers and volunteers,” a spokesperson of the mosque told Lancashire Telegraph.
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“We made good time in the morning and slowed a little as one of the riders was struggling. We all wanted to finish together. Despite that we made it back into Blackburn by 3pm.
“We were overwhelmed by the welcome we got and we would like to thank everyone who turned out to support us.
“We have been raising funds for the mosque through sponsored efforts like this and we would like to thank all the local businesses and the community for continuing to support us.”
New Mosque
The raised funds will be used to replace the Islamic Education Centre with a larger one located off Devenport Road.
The new mosque will serve Muslim worshippers in the city. It will also include an Islamic school and other facilities.
“This has been a completely community focused project with local people taking the lead and helping to raise funds themselves,” the mosque spokesperson added.
This is not the first time for Muslim bikers to take similar adventures.
In 2019, a group of eight bikers made a record 879 kilometers in six days from Melbourne to Sidney to raise fund for refugees.
There have been previous similar adventures, especially with regard to performing Hajj.
In 2018, a family of five Indonesian Muslims took a lengthy cycling journey of 13,000 km to Makkah to perform hajj.
In 2017, another Indonesia Muslim walked more than 9,000 kilometers to perform hajj.