PCA PRESS RELEASE
England Test cricketers Marcus Trescothick, Tim Bresnan, Michael Vaughan, Geraint Jones, Steve James, Matthew Maynard and Gavin Hamilton are gearing up for next week’s Big Bike Ride 3 which will raise money for the PCA Professional Cricketers' Trust and the Tom Maynard Trust.
To see more articles. Click here
The first two Big Bike Rides in 2013 and 2015 raised more than £320,000 and this year’s event takes on added significance as 2017 is the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s 50th anniversary. A Legacy Year Appeal has been launched to raise an extra £250,000 for the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust.
Big Bike Ride 3 will be launched with a dinner at Warwickshire’s Edgbaston headquarters on October 12 with the riders setting out on their 360-mile journey early the next morning.
Big Bike Ride 3, which is generously sponsored by Full-Time Cover insurance and Sanderson Contracts, will start at Edgbaston on October 13 and travel via Sheffield, the Peak District, the Cheshire Plain, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and South Wales to the SSE SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff where Tom Maynard, who died in tragic circumstances in 2012, played his formative cricket and where the Trust set up in his name is based.
Trescothick, Jones, Bresnan, Maynard –Tom’s father – and Hamilton will ride all five legs of Big Bike Ride 3 with Vaughan, England’s 2005-Ashes winning captain, riding the second day from Sheffield Collegiate, his home club, to Crewe Vagrants CC in Nantwich.
James, who is now a cricket writer for ‘The Times’ will ride the last two days of Big Bike Ride 3 which will take him back to his first club Lydney, his old school, Monmouth, and the SSE SWALEC Stadium, home of Glamorgan, the county he captained.
Jones, who played alongside Vaughan and Trescothick in the 2005 Ashes, also played cricket at Lydney as well as Abergavenny, another of the community clubs that will host Big Bike Ride 3 for refreshment stops.
Current county cricketers who will take part in Big Bike Ride 3 include Warwickshire and former Yorkshire seamer Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Middlesex’s former Glamorgan seamer James Harris and Worcestershire batsman Daryl Mitchell, the PCA Chairman.
Among the former county players in the Big Bike Ride 3 will be former Kent captain David Fulton, who is now a Sky Sports presenter, and former Worcestershire all-rounder David Leatherdale, now the PCA Chief Executive, who will be riding all five days.
Ceri Maynard, Tom’s sister, will be taking part in her first Big Bike Ride while Surrey Chief Executive Richard Gould will be among the elite group of cyclists who have taken part in all three.
All proceeds from Big Bike Ride 3 will be shared between the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust and the Tom Maynard Trust.
The PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust was set up in 2000, and supports past and present cricketers, and their immediate family members in times of hardship and upheaval.
The Tom Maynard Trust was set up in 2012 and supports aspiring young sports people in a number of ways including sponsorship of the PCA’s annual Rookie Camp.
Cricketers taking part in Big Bike Ride 3: Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire and England), Dan Cherry (Glamorgan), Alan Fordham (Northamptonshire), David Fulton (Kent), Gavin Hamilton (Yorkshire, Durham, England and Scotland), James Harris (Glamorgan and Middlesex), Geraint Jones (Kent, Gloucestershire and England), Steve James (Glamorgan and England – days 4 and 5 only), David Leatherdale (Worcestershire), Matthew Maynard (Glamorgan and England), Daryl Mitchell (Worcestershire), Alex Morris (Yorkshire and Hampshire), Charlie Mulraine (Warwickshire), Tony Murphy (Lancashire and Surrey), Gareth Rees (Glamorgan), Ian Saxelby (Gloucestershire), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset and England), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire and England – day 2 only), Mark Wallace (Glamorgan), David Wigley (Yorkshire, Worcestershire and Northamptonshire), Matthew Wood (Yorkshire and Glamorgan).
Big Ride 3 itinerary:
October 13: Edgbaston to Sheffield Collegiate CC – Depart Edgbaston 7am, Atherstone CC 9.40am, Quarndon CC 12.20pm, South Wingfield CC 2.20pm, Sheffield Collegiate CC 4.20pm
October 14: Sheffield Collegiate to Crewe Vagrants CC – Depart Sheffield Collegiate CC 7.20am, Buxton CC 10.20am, Poachers Inn, Bollington 12pm, Middlewich CC.2.20pm, Crewe Vagrants CC 3.30pm
October 15: Crewe to Worcestershire CCC – Depart Crewe Vagrants CC 7.25am, Calverhall CC 9am, Broseley CC 12pm, Cleobury Mortimer CC 2.20pm, Worcestershire CCC 4.30pm
October 16: Worcester to Monmouth School – Depart Worcestershire CCC 8.55am, Ledbury CC 11am, Ruardean Hill CC 12.40pm, Lydney CC 2.30pm, Monmouth School 3.20pm
October 17: Monmouth to SSE SWALEC Stadium – Depart Monmouth School 6.55am, Abergavenny CC 9.10am, Newbridge CC 12.20pm, St Fagans CC 2.20pm, Glamorgan CCC 4pm
Please note that all timings are approximate.
