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GREAT NOTTS BIKE RIDE 100 mile sportive, 50 mile challenge, 18 mile community ride & family challenge
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS Updated information on events confirmed so far this year can now be found under the News & Events section above
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GEOFF Thomas is getting back in the saddle in his native north-west in August.
And you can join him for a fabulous day out and help raise much-needed money for the Geoff Thomas Foundation.
GTF is the official charity of The Great Salford Bike Ride which takes place on Sunday August 31 and features a 100-mile sportive, a 50-mile challenge ride and a “family” lap challenge on a closed circuit.
Those mass participation rides form part of the Salford Festival of Cycling (www.salfordfestivalofcycling.com) which opens the night before with a Nocturne bike race.
That race will feature some of the biggest names in the sport in Britain competing multiple laps around a short course that starts and finishes at The Lowry in Salford.
The event was launched last week at The Lowry in Salford where Geoff took on Olympic silver medalist Chris Newton in a roller race.
But, for riders of all ages and abilities, it is the Sunday events that will offer them the chance to test themselves ... and raise funds for the GTF.
''We're delighted to be on board as the official charity of the Great Salford Bike Ride,'' said Geoff who has twice ridden the Tour de France routes to raise funds for his Foundation.
“It is a great opportunity for us to spread the word about what the Foundation is doing, and hoping to achieve, and also to have a lot of fun doing it.
“I haven’t done much cycling so far this summer but I’ll be doing the 100-miler that day and putting together a team of some of the guys who have ridden the Tour with me.
“I’d love as many people as possible to enter and encourage them to join us, ride with us and talk to us about what we’re doing.”
Geoff was born and raised just a few miles from Salford and, with Manchester among the five centres that are benefitting from the Foundation’s work with leukaemia patients, the location is important for the England footballer.
“I’m from this part of the world and it is important that people, leukaemia sufferers and their families, in the north-west know we are working to help them.
“Under our umbrella, we have centres in Nottingham, Birmingham, Oxford, Manchester, Cambridge and London. So we are now covering over 20 million people, people who could benefit from the work that is going on.”
A portion of every entry for the various bike rides being staged on Sunday August 31 will go directly to the Geoff Thomas Foundation.
There are three different options for participants: the full 100-mile sportive; a 50-mile challenge ride and a family challenge ride that takes place in Salford Keys around a closed circuit and is open to riders of all ages and abilities.
For further information, and to book your place in one of the races on-line, go to:
