Ingleton friends to pedal 900 miles for charity (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Pals cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats

8:40am Friday 8th July 2011 in Ingleton news

A chat over a pint has led to four friends deciding to cycle from one end of the country to the other.

On Saturday, three Ingleton men and a fourth from Leamington Spa, will set off to cycle the more than 900 miles from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’Groats in the Highlands of Scotland in just ten days.

Nigel Thompson, his brother-in-law, Paul Bruce, Nigel’s friend Rosario Marcel, and Paul’s friend Johnny Platten started training indoors on rowing machines in January when it was too cold to train outside.

In the spring, they moved outside and for the past six weeks have been toughening up by cycling around the Dales.

“It all started over a pint in a pub in Oxford last summer,” said Nigel. “I was meeting Rosario, whom I’ve known for more than 25 years and he mentioned that he was thinking of joining a group and cycling the country end to end to raise money for a charity that was close to him.”

Nigel said he was sure his brother-in-law would be very keen to go along and he thought it would be a great adventure.

Paul also signed up, and soon Johnny and Nigel decided to go along as well.

“It was very late in the day when I finally said I was on board, and in all honesty, I’m not sure why I have committed to this madness, I’m the wrong side of 45 and this is probably going to be the hardest physical undertaking that any of us will have attempted in our lives,” he said.

Paul will be cycling to raise money for mental health charity, Mind, after his cousin, who suffered from bipolar disorder, commited suicide, and for Andrea’s Gift, which raises money to support brain tumour research.

Rosario will be raising money for The Myton Hospices in memory of his father, who died from cancer. For every pound he raises, it will be matched by his employer, Arqiva.

Donations can be made at mind.org.uk, andreasgift.org.uk and mytonhospice.org.