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Engineering firm gears up for charity bike ride

10/07/2015

A team of 12 employees from Wincham engineering business SECC Oil & Gas and its parent company Cygnet Group will take part in the 60 mile Manchester to Blackpool Bike Ride on Sunday 12th July, to raise funds for The Christie specialist cancer centre in South Manchester.

It is the culmination of a year of training for the team’s members, – some of whom were novice riders when they accepted the challenge – including regular Sunday-morning bike rides taking in thousands of miles of cycle routes around the North West and North Wales.

To boost their fundraising potential, the team sold advertising space on their cycling jerseys to local companies. As well as Cygnet Group and its three businesses, Cygnet Texkimp, SECC and Perpetual Partnerships, other local business sponsors include Northwich engineering companies EWL and Mechspan.

“Our plan is to cycle as a team and cross the line together,” explains team organiser and SECC Oil & Gas mechanical design engineer, Frede Coelho.

“We all have different levels of experience on the bike, from avid cyclists to one particular member of the team who struggled to ride five or six miles 12 months ago, and is now cycling 100 miles a week.

“Many of us have been affected by cancer in some way and so raising funds for The Christie has given us much-needed focus, particularly on days when training has been hard.

“We’d like to extend huge thanks to our sponsors and to all the individuals who have made donations so far.”

More than 7,000 cyclists are expected to take part in Sunday’s Manchester to Blackpool bike ride in aid of The Christie, starting at Manchester United’s Old Trafford football ground and finishing on the South Promenade at Blackpool.

To donate to The Christie, visit the team’s Just Giving page at www.justgivng.com/SECC-charity-ride