Travelling the length of Britain on bike

10/06/2010

MEMBERS of an East Yorkshire cycling group are hoping to raise more than £100,000 for charity by riding the length of Britain in just nine days.

Seven riders, calling themselves The Yorkies, will travel the 1,008 miles from John O’Groates in Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall, at an average of 112 miles per day in June.

They will be among more than 650 cyclists taking part in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, a national charity fundraising event organised by double Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell.

Money raised by the Yorkies will be split three ways:

• Help For Heroes will receive 40 per cent.
• Macmillan Cancer Support will receive 40 per cent.
• Paralympics GB will receive 20 per cent.

The group has been brought together by its oldest member, Bruce Marr, 63, a semi-retired Beverley businessman.

He said: “I read about the ride in the national press and straight away thought ‘I would love to do that’.

“We all ride together regularly, so I mentioned it to the others and they were up for it.

“Then we thought, if we are going to do it, why not do somebody who is not as fortunate a bit of good along the way? That way, everyone is a winner.

“We wanted to give the ride a local angle and both MacMillan Cancer Support and Help For Heroes are very pertinent in this area.”

The other riders taking part are Alan Dale, 52, Kevin Dean, 53, Stephen Oliver, 52, Lee Wardell,44, and Dave Garness, 43, all of Beverley, and Philippa Macloud, 42, of Aldbrough.

They will also be joined by the Mail’s Matt Westby, who will cycle the route and report on their progress in words, pictures and online videos.

The Yorkies will leave John O’Groates on Saturday, June 12^th, and are scheduled to arrive at Land’s End on Sunday June 20.

Along the way, they willl climb more than 58,000ft and each burn about 67,000 calories.

They will camp each night at sites set up by the Deloitte Ride Across Britain organisers, Threshold Sports, which is run by Mr Cracknell.

The Yorkies have paid the £1,095 entry fee themselves, ensuring every penny of the money they raise will go to charity.

By donating online at:

www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/theyorkiesride

your donation will then be distributed to the three charities. Virgin Money will make a claim of Gift Aid (28p in the £) on your behalf.

Follow the Yorkies ride across Britain via the following website

 http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/rideacrossbritain