Officers to cycle 901 miles for charity

Officers to cycle 901 miles for charity

A team of officers from Greater Manchester Police will be tackling hills and crossing countries as part a charity cycle from Lands End to John ‘o’ Groats.

The group of eight who are based in departments across the Force will be cycling the 901 miles over eight days in an effort to raise money for Macmillan Cancer and the Police Dependent’s Trust.

Starting on 29 June the group will begin their eight-day journey in John ‘o’ Groats before taking a route via the memorial garden for PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes at Hyde Police Station.

One of the organisers, PC Kirk Johnson who is based in the Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit, said: “Last year we took part in the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for Help for Heroes and this time round we wanted to step it up and gear and take part in something with more challenge.

“My dad took part in this trek some years ago and spurred on by that I and the lads at work decided it was the right time for us to also take part.

“When we began planning for the ride we decided to raise money for Macmillan Cancer as a number of the team have known someone affected by the disease. However following the deaths of PCs Hughes and Bone we decided to also raise money for a police charity as we feel it is such a worthwhile cause that does so much for families and officers alike.

“I have been on and off the bike for years and in preparation there has been some serious training by all of us since before Christmas. It included changing our diet and cutting out alcohol in addition up until the recent bad weather we had been cycling 30 to 40 miles, three to four times a week.”

So far the group have raised more than £1,000 but will continue to take part in a number of fund raising activities in the run up to the cycle ride. They will be holding a charity comedy night to raise funds at the Off the Rails Comedy Club, The Royal Georgian in Greenfield on 17 July from 7.30pm. The acts will be showcasing their material ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe festival and have waivered their fees for the night. For more information see: http://www.saddleworthcomedy.co.uk/2013-shows/493-2/ 

Anyone wanting to donate money to the group can do so via: www.justgiving.com/team-jogle for Macmillan Cancer and www.justgiving.com/team-jogle2 for the Police Dependants Trust.