...And They're Off!

Now the team are on their way to France today, it's time to fill in the gaps re some of the people taking part, particularly the all important donation pages of the charities they're supporting.

First up we have Nottingham's Adrian Howitt, who took part in From A to B and joined the From S to N team on the Nottingham to Hull leg last year. His nominated charity is
Wish Upon a Star.

Then there's Rowan House's Gillian Bonthron who is a Smith News bike challenge first timer. Her nominated charity is The Oxford hospital neo-natal unit and the breastfeeding support clinic.

Next we have Stuart McGeoch whose nominated charity is Help for Heroes.
Stuart, how’s the preparation going? "Fine – I’m a keen cyclist. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone on this year’s challenge. On the fundraising front I have also got 2 sponsor forms on the go at the moment; 1 here in Milton Keynes and 1 in my old depot in Newmarket. I also have 2 dates set for collections at 2 local supermarkets and I’m hoping to hear from my children’s schools re them doing a none uniform day for me."

Cayleb Needham is our first bike ride challenge third timer who hails from Newport. This year he's supporting Cancer Research. How’s the preparation going Cayleb? "Pretty good. Things got off to an early start back in March with a 28 mile sponsored cycle ride to Caldicot and then back to Newport."

Peter Lindsay is a first timer from Peterborough who is supporting Magpas, "to honour my good friend Joe Linskey who tragically passed away on January 27th 2013. Joe was a close friend of mine and will sadly be missed by all who knew him." Peter has a passion for cycling which he's looking forward to sharing with the rest of the team.

Our second Rowan House newbie is Polly Baker who is fundraising for a charity new to Community Link-Up, Hope Support Services. She says: "I met Amy through a mutual friend and over a couple of glasses of Prosecco Amy told me all about how her mum had founded Hope Support Services and I knew instantly that this was going to be my good cause."

Our last third timer, fellow Rowan House rider and no stranger to this blog is Mark Charlton. His nominated charity is the National Autistic Society. Watch out for his daily bike ride diary which starts tomorrow! He's joined by first-timer Max Livingstone-Learmonth who's riding in support of 2 charities, British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research.

Last but not least, there's Michael Williams, another Rowan House rookie, who sent in this super paragraph for his bike rider profile: "The preparation's not as bad as I feared, I’m getting out several times a week and have started to ride on consecutive days over the past couple of weekends (nothing like the distances we’ll cover on each of the three days though!). I found some serious hills to climb and have even got up a few of them. Can’t wait to get started and I’m really looking to that early morning start in Paris; croissant stuffed in my jersey pocket, copy of L’Equipe stuffed down my front for warmth, heading down the banks of the Seine… It’s the 200+ miles after that have me worried!" Michael's nominated charities are Macmillan Cancer Support and Rockinghorse.

Don't see the name of the team member you'd like to support? That's because we've already blogged their details!

You can find all the information you need about all 16 riders on our Team News and Sponsorship Page :)