For Mark, fitness has never simply been part of his job. It’s been a constant throughout his life; helping him through injury, connecting him with people, supporting his mental health and, more recently, giving him a way to raise thousands of pounds for charities close to his heart.
Now 58 and Duty Manager at Eccles Leisure Centre, Mark has been working as part of the SCL team since 2003, but his relationship with sport and exercise started long before that.
“I was always into sport at school. I was in the athletics team and played football. I kept playing, semi-professionally, after leaving school,”
he explains.
An ACL injury eventually brought his football career to an end. Faced with a decision about whether he wanted to risk further injury, Mark turned his attention to other challenges. He decided to get back into boxing and take up triathlon.
His first triathlon was the Salford Triathlon in 2003, the same year he started working for SCL. From then on, he has loved taking part in mass participation events.
Then, after his eighth knee surgery at the age of 45, his doctor advised him to stop running. He decided then to concentrate on cycling and swimming.
“That’s when the cycling bug really hit!”
Mark bought his first proper road bike not long after, but it was a conversation with colleagues at FLM (a training provider for fitness professionals) that he now considers a major turning point in his cycling journey.
While completing his Personal Training Course with SCL, under the guidance of FLM Training, the team discovered that Mark was a keen cyclist. They were planning a charity ride up Mount Teide in Tenerife to raise money for Cancer Research UK and invited him along.
In September 2015 Mark took on what was at the time, the toughest ride he had ever attempted.
“It took four hours to climb, and only one hour to descend. That’s how tough that climb is. Some of the gradients are just unbelievable, and when you can see the road winding up in front of you, it’s an intimidating challenge. But that ride changed my life. It was an amazing day.”
More than just a difficult ride, the experience sparked something in Mark. From there, he began taking on more and more cycling events, sometimes as many as two or three a month.
“I felt like I’d found my passion, and it’s just grown from there.”
Now, cycling has taken Mark right across Europe, with trips to France, Spain and Italy, riding iconic routes featured in top races including the Tour de France and La Vuelta a Espana.
One of his long-standing bucket-list challenges was the somewhat infamous ascent of Mont Ventoux. When the day finally arrived, nerves kicked in.
“I’m quite competitive and stubborn, to be honest. My mind set approaching these challenges is always, I will defeat the climb. I don’t want to let it beat me.”
“Ventoux was tough. The top few kilometres were like cycling on the moon! It was just barren with a fierce headwind all the way, but the sense of achievement afterwards is epic!”
That determination has become a recurring theme in Mark’s cycling journey.
After his charity ride in Tenerife, Mark became increasingly inspired to combine his love of cycling with fundraising.
Over the years, he has raised more than £10,000 for various charities, taking on increasingly ambitious challenges along the way.
“When you’re doing an event for charity, you’re not just doing it for you. That adds pressure, but it’s also really motivating. You know you’re doing something you love while also raising money for a great charity.”
Mark explains how the added pressure of cycling for charity is great motivation for training and improving his fitness.
“If I’m doing an event where a charity is involved, I will train religiously for it. Knowing that the ride is doing something good in the world, as well as just for me, makes me want to push myself to do the best for them. It helps get through the really tough training rides and turbo sessions!”
One of his biggest achievements came in 2024, when he took on the Manchester to London cycle ride in support of Ambitious about Autism, a charity particularly close to his heart.
The challenge covers some 355km; almost double the furthest distance Mark had ever cycled at that point.
“I’d ridden up to 185km before that, so knowing I was going to double that distance in one day was really nerve-racking.”
He completed the ride in 17 hours.
In 2026 he returned to the same challenge; this time finishing in just 15 and a half hours, taking more than an hour off his previous time despite being 2 years older.
For Mark, the fundraising element adds another dimension to his cycling too. The events bring together people from completely different backgrounds, and walks of life. Everyone is united by the same goal.
“It’s not just a race; it’s a community.”
Even riding alongside former professionals such as Romain Bardet or Rapha (cyclewear and lifestyle brand) founder Simon Mottram doesn’t change that feeling of community.
“There are no egos, no bravado. Everyone is there for the same reason.”
Working in leisure means Mark spends his working life encouraging other people to be active. But his own journey is a reminder that staying fit and active can be about much more than a job, a gym session or a particular sport.
For Mark, cycling has become a way to explore, challenge himself and meet people.
“The great thing about cycling is that you can see and experience so much on the bike that you’d never see any other way.”
He loves discovering small rural villages and landscapes that he would never otherwise encounter.
“Sometimes it’s like cycling through a totally different time, or a film set, or something.”
And while Mark is competitive, he also sees enormous value in training alongside people who are younger, fitter or faster than him.
“I always find cycling with younger people, and people who are fitter or faster than me, really motivational. It reminds me that I can still always improve.”
For Mark, that mindset is an important part of ageing well.
He tells me he feels fitter now than he did ten years ago.
“I’m not stopping anytime soon. I’ll carry on as long as I can.”
Cycling has also played an important role in Mark’s mental health.
In 2019 and into 2020, Mark went through a difficult period with his mental health, which became even more challenging when the pandemic hit. Recovery was neither quick nor easy.
Getting back on his bike became an important part of that recovery.
“Cycling is a huge release for me. When I’m on the bike, I’m not Mark the husband, or Mark the grandad, or Mark the Duty Manager. It’s something I can do for me; just to be myself.”
For Mark, the bike provides time and space away from the different roles and responsibilities of everyday life.
And importantly, he sees cycling as something that can be accessible to almost anyone.
“You don’t have to ride on the roads, or take part in big races. We have a great network of off-road routes around our local area.”
He recently cycled from Salford to Liverpool with a friend without going on a road once; showing it is even possible to ride longer and more challenging routes without worrying about traffic. He also thinks modern options such as electric bikes have helped make cycling more accessible, meaning more people can discover the freedom of cycling.
Initiatives and charities such as Wheels for All, who run weekly sessions at SCL’s Cleavley Athletics Track, also help make cycling accessible to people with different ability levels and barriers to exercise.
Mark’s advice to anyone thinking about becoming more active is simple.
“Don’t sit and think, ‘I’ll do that next week’ or ‘I’ll start tomorrow’. Just go and do it.”
It doesn’t have to be cycling. It doesn’t have to be a marathon, a triathlon or a 355km challenge. Your fitness journey has to be what’s right for you; however big or small the challenge may be.
“Give anything a try! If you don’t like something, tick it off and try something else.”
For Mark, staying active has been about adapting when his body has required him to, finding new challenges when old ones were no longer possible, and discovering something that gives him purpose.
And there are still plenty of challenges ahead. Next year, Mark plans to take on a Land’s End to John O’Groats ride, as well as hopefully heading back to the Alps to tick off a few more iconic climbs.
At 58, he’s certainly not slowing down.
In fact, talking to him today, one gets the impression he may only just be getting started.
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