Those of you who know me will agree that I love a sporting challenge!

So last year I cycled from Southport on the West Coast, using my old bike that was considered a collector’s item by many and as old as some of my team mates, whilst not having trained at all apart from my trip to KFC prior to departure, all the way to Hornsea on the East Coast of the UK some 215 Miles later... Having said that it was over 250 miles by time we finished thanks to some missing signs during our Merseyside leg and some not so clever reading of a map by our leader! This was in aid of the British Pulmonary Hypertension Association which was supporting one of our work colleagues at that time.

This year I have decided to venture a little further into the unknown and as I have never been to Paris this event was one not to be missed, I mean how hard can an extra 257 miles be for a 46 year, old ex rugby playing relic?

The next decision was the choice of charity and when I learned what had happened within my friends family the choice was made easy, in particular as I am a parent too and children I hold very close to my heart, in fact it’s my little girl - Ellie that inspires me as I want her to feel proud of her old dad!

So please donate anything you can. I can’t tell you how grateful I would be to be able to contribute to such a worthy charity that does so much to help our little people cope with such a tragic event that can and do happen in some of their lives.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.