Standard snapper turns charity cyclist

Buy photos » In the saddle to support cancer sufferers - Standard photographer Marcus Mingins prepares for the Wheel Heroes 100 mile cycle.

A CYCLING-MAD photographer will be swapping lenses for Lycra as he prepares to cycle 100 miles for charity.

Bromsgrove and Droitwich Standard snapper Marcus Mingins is hoping to raise £100 by biking across Stratford-on-Avon, Evesham and the Cotswolds on Sunday (May 27).

The money he raises from the Wheel Heroes event will go to Cyclists Fighting Cancer, a charity which provides adapted tricycles and bikes to children and young people affected by the disease.

He said: "It is a charity close to my heart after losing my father to cancer in 2006 at the tender age of 58, while also being a close friend of the charity director Mike Grisenthwaite who I have witnessed going through his own personal battles with the illness.

"All the riders will be taking in some of the area's most stunning scenery but it will not be a sightseeing ride.

"Anybody who has ridden a bicycle in the Cotswolds will know it contains some extremely challenging climbs and then some very technical and fast descents - all in all it will be a day of pain and exhilaration.

"It has been a long time since I cycled 100 miles, but thankfully I live close to the Cotswolds, so I have been able to fit in some tough training rides over the past weeks."

For more on the charity, go to www.cyclistsfc.org.uk or visit www.justgiving.com/marcusmingins to support Marcus.

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