ENGLAND CRICKETERS GET ON THEIR BIKES FOR CHARITY

ENGLAND CRICKETERS GET ON THEIR BIKES FOR CHARITY England Test cricketers Marcus Trescothick, Rob Key, Tim Bresnan, Michael Vaughan, Ashley Giles, Matthew Maynard and Gavin Hamilton will be getting on their bikes in October to raise money for the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust and the Tom Maynard Trust on Big Bike Ride 3. 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 400-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. The peloton of cricketers, which includes past and current county players, PCA and England and Wales Cricket Board staff, sponsors and cricket fans, will stop off at community cricket clubs along the way, a popular feature of Big Bike Ride 2 in 2015 which linked the recreational and professional games. Three grounds which have staged county cricket – Sheffield Collegiate, Buxton and Lydney – will be hosting the Big Bike Ride 3 cyclists. Maynard, Tom’s father, and Trescothick will be taking part in their third Big Bike Ride and they will again cycle every yard of the 400 mile route, just as they did in 2013 and 2015. Former Kent captain Key, who is now a Sky Sports commentator, rode the first four days in 2015 but has committed to the full five days this year. Bresnan, the Yorkshire all-rounder and the county’s PCA representative, will be a first time rider along with Vaughan, a keen cyclist, who will take in the second day which starts at Sheffield Collegiate, the club where his career began, and finishes in Nantwich. Giles, an Ashes winner under Vaughan’s captaincy in 2005, will ride the fourth day from Worcester’s New Road headquarters to Monmouth School, a route which will take in the Malvern Hills and the Forest of Dean. Hamilton, the former England and Scotland all-rounder, now works as the PCA’s Business Development Manager and he will be part of a strong PCA contingent which includes Chairman Daryl Mitchell, Chief Executive David Leatherdale and Personal Development and Welfare Managers Mark Wallace, Matthew Wood, Tom Jones and Charlie Mulraine. Ceri Maynard, Tom’s sister, will be taking part in her first Big Bike Ride while Surrey Chief Executive Richard Gould and Chairman Richard Thompson will be among the elite group of cyclists who have ridden 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. The full Big Ride 3 route is: October 13: Edgbaston to Sheffield Collegiate CC via Atherstone CC and South Wingfield CC October 14: Sheffield Collegiate to Crewe Vagrants CC via Buxton CC and Middlewich CC. October 15: Crewe to Worcestershire CCC via Calverhall CC, Broseley CC, Cleobury Mortimer CC October 16: Worcester to Monmouth School via Ledbury CC, Ruardean Hill CC, Lydney CC October 17: Monmouth to SSE SWALEC Stadium via Abergavenny CC, Newbridge CC, St Fagans CC There are still a few places left to join Big Bike Ride 3. Interested riders can register here. Donations to support the riders and PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust and Tom Maynard Trust can be made here