Rob Shotton is cycling to 60 London rugby clubs in six days, 21 to 26 September, towing a water butt for mental health charity LooseHeadz. GKT's ground is on the route.

A man towing a water butt behind a bicycle will arrive at GKT RFC’s Honor Oak Park ground some time next week, attempt to score a try, pour a little of the water out, and pedal off to the next rugby club. It will make more sense than it sounds.

Rob Shotton, co-founder of the rugby mental health charity LooseHeadz, is riding the Offload Challenge from Monday 21 to Saturday 26 September: an attempt to score a try at 60 rugby clubs across London in six days, cycling between them with the water butt in tow the whole way. The organisers have confirmed to Lewisham News that GKT RFC, whose home is King’s College London’s sports ground off Brockley Rise, is one of the 60.

Why the water butt

The butt is the point of the ride. On his fundraising page, Shotton explains: “LooseHeadz exists because too many people in our game have carried something heavy on their own for too long, and didn’t know how to offload it. The water butt represents that weight. At every club, they’ll help me pour a bit of it out.”

By the finish, he wants it empty, “because 60 rugby clubs decided to carry it together”.

There is a personal edge to the cycling too. “The last time I properly got on a bike, I broke my back,” he writes; the charity’s event page dates the fall to 11 years ago. Former professional players are joining him along the route to recreate tries from their own careers.

The ride finishes at Twickenham on Saturday 26 September, where the Red Roses play New Zealand’s Black Ferns at Allianz Stadium in the WXV Global Series, kick-off 3pm.

The Lewisham stop

GKT RFC is the rugby club of Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’, the medical schools of King’s College London, and plays at the university’s Honor Oak Park sports ground on Brockley Rise, in Crofton Park ward.

The organisers have not yet published which day the ride reaches each club, so there is no time to put in your diary; the charity’s Instagram and the event page are the places to watch during the week.

What it means for you

  • The ride passes through the borough between 21 and 26 September. If you see a cyclist towing a water butt, that is what is going on.
  • The fundraising page is open now. As of 18 September it had raised £3,495 against a £2,500 target (a figure that includes £2,500 raised outside the page), for the LooseHeadz Foundation, registered charity 1193051.
  • LooseHeadz signs rugby clubs up to a mental health lead scheme, with free training, wellbeing check-ins and support; the charity says over 1,300 clubs in 36 countries have registered.

Sources: LooseHeadz event page; GiveNGain fundraising page; the organisers’ announcement to Lewisham News, 18 September 2026.