Our team of 15 colleagues who come from all corners of the Tesco Group; Tesco Supermarkets, Booker Wholesale, One-Stop Convenience Stores and Best Foods Logistics will be cycling 250 miles through the relentlessly hilly countryside of Cumbria and Yorkshire, from Whitehaven to Whitby to raise funds in support of GroceyAid, a charity dedicated to supporting employees past and present involved in every facet of the Grocery Industry

GroceryAid have been providing Emotional, Practical and Financial support to grocery people since 1857. Unsurprisingly the last few years have been exceptional in terms of the number of people reaching out to them for help, with Covid, Energy and Price Inflation across the board affecting thousands.

We're raising funds to ensure they can keep responding to those needs

Remember the Pandemic? Those magnificent "Essential Workers" that kept the supermarkets open despite the risk, and in some cases abuse that came with that territory? We called them Heroes at the time as that's what they are but even Heroes suffer poor health, financial hardship and mental stress. When they do, GroceryAid step up to the plate and that's why they deserve everyone's support!

This Year's Team Are:

Steve Marston, 58. Steve exists in two basic settings... Riding his bike and thinking about riding his bike. Don't be fooled into thinking he's paying any attention to a word you're saying unless you happen to be talking about bikes. Steve has supported GroceryAid throughout his career in the industry and will, without apology, pester the team senseless to achieve this year's fundraising target

Victoria "Vics" Read, at least 21, perhaps a year or two older but nobody really knows. Vics rode her first GroceryAid event in 2021 and has been a regular ever since. She currently holds the record for being both the fastest and the slowest girl on the team (yes alright, the only girl on the team but she has competition in both categories this year)

Lee Edwards, 50. Living on the edge of the Peak District he's well used to climbing the odd hill or two but loves coming down them more than going up. Fearless on the descents, you'll only know he's coming by the whistle of the wind as he plummets past you and the incessant moaning about having had to work so hard to get to the top in the first place!

Mike Caddle, 45. Mike too has the benefit of a few hills to train on, some of them on the actual route of this year's coast to coast. He's another GroceryAid veteran and enjoys putting his hobby to great use to raise funds for the cause

Jonny McQuarrie. Passionate about both the industry and it's people, Jonny see's GroceryAid as an absolutely essential lifeline to the staff of the Tesco Group and beyond. A keen cyclist and motorcyclist he's another rider who enjoys the descents more than he does the climbs. He has every reason to given that his home territory is basically flat so hill training opportunities are few and far between. That wont stop him reaching the summit of every climb though and he'll pass a good few on the way, and as every photograph ever taken of him on his bike will attest, he has to ride everywhere with his jersey unzipped and acting as an air-brake so he can actually stop at the bottom!

Steve Tait. Steve's a racer and and a good one at that, he's fast, very fast and very light too which means he'll always be first to the top of any hill you point him at. Always happy to share a good training tip and help anyone achieve their cycling goals he takes his cycling seriously and is the man we'll all be chasing and measuring ourselves against. When we reach our finishing line in Whitby, Steve will set about his pro-athlete warm-down and stretching routine whilst we all scoff Fish & Chips

Paul Whyte. Paul is a keen Cyclist and Runner with a number of gruelling trail marathons under his belt that typically involve mud, cliffs, hills and awful weather. His athletic enthusiasm is rubbing off on his two young sons, Albert and Stanley who already compete in Muddy Monsters cyclocross racing at their local Welwyn Velodrome. Paul is doggedly determined at everything he does and a big supporter of GroceryAid, he'll stop at nothing to ensure the charity coffers are filled to the brim including this year teaching himself to ride a Unicycle in an attempt to impress his sponsors!

Modestas "Mo" Kardokas. Mo shares his passion for cycling with his wife Joana and his 5 year old daughter Adelina. The whole family live the cycling life. He's a data-obsessive, always analysing the last ride and looking for improvement on the next. He'll be competing to be first up every hill and first down the other side too (he'll have more competition with the latter than the former)

Steve Charles. Steve has been cycling since the late 1980's when he entered his first road race and caught the cycling bug. Having raced in the UK and abroad for over 25 years he took the decision it was far more enjoyable to stick to club rides to the café for coffee and a large slice of cake

Andrew Thompson. Lining up for his eighth (yes 8th!) tour of duty at this year's Coast to Coast and still under 61 years of age (just). The team can't shake him off as he tucks in behind anyone and everyone to save the legs for the never ending climbs. A serial supporter of GroceryAid, Andrew runs campaigns to raise their profile with Independent Retailers up and down the land

Trudy Wilson, otherwise know as "Nanna T" is new to the Coast to Coast this year. Another of the team that has past her half-century (or 21 plus VAT as we prefer to call it)

A keen cyclist and fitness enthusiast she finds it very hard to sit still. Having grown up in the fens she's well used to long straight roads and relentless headwinds. The hills though will be an entirely different challenge

She's passionate about raising funds for GroceryAid and the thousands of people it supports every year and is also organising the inaugural Booker Dragon Boat event which makes it's debut this June

Rob Evans - a runner first and foremost having completed the London Marathon 6 times and 480 park runs and counting!

Rob's new to cycling and credits being able to stop for a beer half way without being frowned upon as his reason for becoming a MAMIL. Most of his rides take place in his home county of Cambridgeshire, officially the flattest county in Britain where anything more a speed bump is considered a substantial climb

Whilst feeling a little trepidatious about the slightly larger speed bumps he'll encounter on the Coast to Coast, his overriding emotion is pride in the opportunity to raise money for Grocery Aid, "a charity that does incredible work for our sector, and one which many of my close colleagues have benefited from. It will be an honour to ride for them"

Bill Lowe, 61. Bill joins us for the first time this year having been press-ganged by his boss, Mr Whyte (see above). He's a keen cyclist with several long distance events to his name but this will be his greatest challenge to date. He's looking to upgrade his Uber account ahead of the event, but little does he realise, there's only one taxi in the Yorkshire Dales and we've pre-booked that on a false errand for the week!

Steve Messenger, 42. Steve was born a raised just a stone's throw from the Coast to Coast start line and has spent years climbing the rocky paths of the Lake District on Mountain Bikes. Having seen the positive difference GroceryAid has made to colleagues close to him he's decided that now's the time to shave his legs and find out what all the fuss is about in the world of road cycling, giving a little back in the process

Jose McKeon, pictured here on the Mersey Ferry whilst taking part in Inverness to Chester ride with Tesco Primary

Jose's been cycling for a good few years but recently had to take a break due to an “off” that resulted in a brain injury which is why she's taking no risks and keeping her helmet on even when steering a boat - you can never be too careful

It was having the privilege of cycling London to Brussels in September last year that got Jose back on her bike. "It was a fantastic event and great to see our industry coming together to support Grocery Aid"

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