TWO BROTHERS are set to undertake a gruelling 1,000-mile charity cycle in memory of their parents who both lost their battles with serious conditions.
Nick and Matthew Page will be embarking on the ride from the Worcestershire Beacon on the Malvern Hills to Mont Blanc in the Alps after the death of their mum, Pauline, and dad, Roy.
Pauline passed away in May last year after battling scleroderma, a rare skin-hardening disease, for more than 20 years, while Roy lost his battle with a brain tumour in 2002 after being diagnosed with it six months earlier.
And Nick, 46, and Matthew, 42, are set to take to the saddle next Wednesday (April 15) to pedal up the cash for the Scleroderma Society and the Brain Tumour Charity.
Nick, who works as a graphic designer at Independent Design in Cradley, told The Observer he had completed a 40-mile cycle for St Richard’s Hospice before, but had never taken part in anything on this scale.
“We are both keen cyclists,” he said.
“Not competitively but we have both been keen cyclists for years and years – it was a challenge and something different.
“It is a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment – we have done some training and I know we can both cycle 70 to 80 miles in a day quite comfortably but it is unknown joining it all together and doing it day after day.
“Mentally we haven’t really been thinking about it too much, it is just about trying to break it down day by day.”
The cycle, which will be unsupported, will see the brothers head through Cirencester, Swindon and on to Portsmouth before crossing the English Channel and riding through central France.
They are hoping to complete it in two to three weeks.
“We are trying to do something positive,” Nick added.
“It makes you realise you have a limited shelf life and that you have to do these things while you can.
“We hope our ride will raise both awareness and vital funds which will help the ongoing research into the charities we have chosen.
“If people would like to donate and help both these charities and help people like our mum and dad and their families, it would be much appreciated.”
Visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Two.Brothers to donate to the cause.
