Redfox director Max MacGillivray, along with 94 other riders, is setting out on a 310-mile bike ride in aid of charity.
From 7-11 May the recruitment stalwart will be riding from the Ermonville Forest in France back to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.
The ride is to commemorate the 40thanniversary of the Ermonvile air disaster, when 18 members of the Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club perished in one of the world’s worst plane crashes, with a total loss of 345 people.
The money raised by theriders will be donated to the Suffolk-based St Nicholas Hospice and to the Bury Rugby Club Trust to setup permanent lighting for the youth team pitches.
MacGillivray said: “We have a number of our local friends who lost their fathers in the air disaster and they have carried that loss with them ever since.
'Forty years ago there were so many families and friends affected and when that spreads out to 18 people in a town the size of Bury St Edmunds, everyone knew someone who perished. The thought of commemorating the loss by such a ride was a very brave one by the organisers and the momentum that has now grown behind the event is significant.
'The hope is that we can collectively raise money for our local hospice and to encourage more kids to join the rugby club by extending the pitches' use through all-weather lighting. Of the 95 riders, there is a great mix from an 80-year-old to friends of the club coming in from overseas. If you were kind enough to sponsor me it would be hugely appreciated as they are great causes and a great way to remember those that were lost 40 years ago.”
More information on the event is available atwww.memorialcycleride.co.uk, while you can sponsor viawww.justgiving.com/Max-MacGillivray.
No comments yet