A team of cyclists who have connections with northern retailer Booths completed an epic cycle ride for charity.
The bikers wheeled their way to Keswick’s Booths store last Thursday as they pedalled to clock up the pounds for Cure Leukemia.
They were cycling 600 kilometres across the north of England calling in at 27 Booths stores and also visiting three support sites and two cancer treatment centres.
Meanwhile, in the store Phil Chawdhary kept pace with his colleagues – and he did 600km on a static bike.
Inspired by the Tour de France, Nigel Murray, the company’s chief operating officer, gathered together a team of more than 50 people, from colleagues to suppliers, to take part in the ride.
Only eight riders, coming from a wide range of abilities, ages and roles at Booths from suppliers, accountants, fishmongers and customer assistants, completed the full tour.
Nigel – a keen cyclist – became aware of the charity after hearing about patron Geoff Thomas, a former England footballer who was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2003.
He was initially given three months to live, but thanks a stem cell transplant from his sister Kay, he went into remission in 2004 and has since ridden
the Tour de France route four times and this year’s ride will be his fifth and final tour.
Nigel will join him and 23 other amateur cyclists this summer to complete the gruelling tour with the aim of raising £1million pounds for the charity.
“We first did the Tour O’ Booths a couple of years ago, and it was a great experience,” said Nigel.
“The reason for doing it is three-fold. It’s an event to motivate you to keep active, it brings together different parts of the business from colleagues to suppliers in a team-building exercise with the added motivation of raising funds for charity, which this year is Cure Leukaemia.”
