for charity

Report by

MHARI KELLY

A GRUELLING five-day cycle ride through the blistering heat of northern India is being tackled by Winsford woman Karen Wray.

She is taking up the challenge of a lifetime in October to raise money for the children's charity Whizz-Kidz.

The 33-year-old interior designer will join 60 fund-raisers in the Rajesthan region.

They are all getting on their bikes to help provide special mobility aids, such powered wheelchairs, for children around the country.

But for Karen, of Buckingham Drive, the 341km ride over rough terrain and through the fly-invested backwaters holds an additional peril - she came down with asthma last year.

"This is going to be a physically demanding challenge for me, being asthmatic," Karen said. "But it will help me on my way to achieving a lifetime's ambition - to cycle in every continent of the world."

Karen needs to raise a minimum of £2,500 in sponsorship to take part in the ride, and so far she has raised £485.

She said: "If I don't achieve the minimum sponsorship figure I either have to make up the difference from my own personal funds or postpone the trip. So I need all the help I can get from everybody in Winsford."

It was a TV appeal that led Karen to take up the Whizz-Kidz challenge.

"We tend to take our legs for granted these days," she said. "I wanted to do something to benefit those children who don't have the freedom and for whom getting out of doors is a major expedition.

"I love cycling but I have never done anything as gruelling as this, so I'm starting to train now."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.