PCA PRESS RELEASE
Daryl Mitchell will use the cricketers and their families who benefit from the support of the PCA Professional Cricketers' Trust as his motivation for completing a gruelling 360-mile cycle ride when he takes part in Big Bike Ride 3 this week.
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Mitchell, the Worcestershire opening batsman, was elected Chairman of the Professional Cricketers’ Association earlier this year when he also committed to taking part in Big Ride 3 which will take the long way from Birmingham to Cardiff via Sheffield, the Peak District, Cheshire Plain, Shropshire, Worcestershire, the Forest of Dean and Welsh mountains.
Mitchell will be joined by 60 more riders, including England Test players Marcus Trescothick, Geraint Jones, Tim Bresnan, Michael Vaughan, Steve James and Gavin Hamilton, on Big Bike Ride 3 which will raise money for the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust and the Tom Maynard Trust.
As a trustee of the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust, Mitchell has seen at first hand the range of support the charity provides to past and present cricketers and their family members in their hour of need and he will have them in mind when he tackles the most arduous stages of Big Bike Ride 3.
“I am a bit nervous at the moment but, when it’s completed, it will be something that I will look back on with a lot of pride and satisfaction.
“At the moment I don’t really know what to expect so there’s also excitement. But the main motivation is to raise a lot of money for two wonderful charities.
“Since being elected PCA Chairman I’ve also become a trustee of the Professional Cricketers’ Trust and that’s being an eye-opener in terms of the work that goes on behind the scenes and the number of cases that we deal with.
“That will be my inspiration. When you don’t want to get on your bike on a cold Sunday morning that spurs you on a bit.
“It’s great to raise awareness and a few quid for the two charities and to finish in Cardiff links in nicely with the Tom Maynard Trust.
“It will be demanding physically and mentally but the money that we will raise is the big motivation.
“I’m looking forward to the camaraderie. I imagine that there will be a bit of dressing room banter on the way round. Obviously, I know the cricketers who are riding quite well but we’ve also got sponsors, cricket fans and keen cyclists who are very much part of Big Bike Ride 3 and I’m looking forward to getting to know them over the five days.”
Mitchell, who has been out cycling around Worcestershire since the end of the cricket season, will be joined on Big Bike Ride 3 by his father-in-law Mel Saunders, who is a keen cyclist.
“He will certainly be far better prepared than I am. He’s done two or three 100-mile rides and he’s been training hard for this,” Mitchell said.
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 PCA’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, which is generously sponsored by Full-Time Cover insurance and Sanderson Contracts, will start at Edgbaston on October 13 and finish on October 17 at 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.
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), Oliver Hannon-Dalby (Yorkshire and Warwickshire), 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).
