FOUR Cookstown men will be going continental as they bid to raise money for a leading diabetes charity.
Nigel Moore, Gordon McAllister, Stephen Thom and Trevor Shaw will be amongst more than 90 cyclists who will be cycling from London to Paris in order to raise money and awareness for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
The men will leav
e London on 3 July and should arrive in the French capital two days later - all being well.
The group have been set a target of £1000 each to raise and they are well on their way to reaching this.
The cause is something very close to the hearts of the cyclists, as Nigel explains:
"My son has Type 1 diabetes and I felt compelled to do something to help him in any way I could. The cycle from London to Paris seemed like a good way to get out, get a little fitter and raise a bit of money for what is a really worthwhile cause."
About 350,000 people in the UK alone are affected by type 1 diabetes with over 25,000 of them children. It is a leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, stroke, heart attacks and nerve damage leading to amputation.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation exists to find the cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications, and is the world's largest charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research. It was founded by a small group of parents of children with type 1 diabetes who recognised that insulin injections are not the cure for this life threatening and lifelong condition.
Anyone who wishes to make a donation to the charity can log onto their website at www.jdrf.org.uk and click on 'DONATE NOW'.
