Police officers chase trains for charity

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A group of amateur cyclists will be cycling from Manchester Piccadilly train station to London Euston train station this month to raise money for The Christie Hospital.

They will be up against the clock though as they need to arrive in the capital in time to catch the last train of the day back to Manchester.

Amongst the eighteen riders is Neil Burnham from Wilmslow, a serving officer for Greater Manchester Police. He will be joined by fourteen other police officers.

They will be leaving Manchester at 5.26 am, when the first train departs, and cycling the 195 miles in time to catch the last train back to Manchester at 9pm.

Neil explained "The reason why we are doing the ride is because unfortunately cancer is something that seems to touch everybody's lives. A close colleague of ours is currently under treatment at The Christie. Unfortunately they have discovered more cancerous growths following his last operation. He was hoping to be one of the support drivers for the ride but is now due to start chemo again next week.

"Another of the support drivers has also recently been under treatment at The Christie and unfortunately one of the team lost their mother last year through cancer - who was under treatment at The Christie. A few years back I lost my best mate through cancer and it just seems to be everywhere so if we thought if we can raise a little money to help fight it then it's the least we can do."

Neil added "I'm a great believer that if you are asking people to sponsor you then there should be a real challenge involved and that's why we decided to give the train chasing a go.

"I'm a keen cyclist but have never covered this distance before in one day against the clock. I rode the coast to coast, Morecambe to Scarborough last year to raise money for Joshua's Boxes charity. That was 123 miles with no time limit.

"We are all amateur cyclists and this will be a mega challenge for us. We have been training hard and have completed rides all over the place, some have ridden to Oxfordshire, some have ridden around Snowdon. Three of us did Stage 1 of the TDF in the Yorkshire Moors last week and one guy, Jon White even completed the Paris Roubaix challenge over the famed cobbles."

You can sponsor the train chasers via their Justgiving page.

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The Christie
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