A SUPERMARKET manager is gearing up to help hospice patients by taking part in a gruelling bike challenge.

Alex Millman, bakery manager at the Sainsbury’s store at Shore Head, Huddersfield, will join 25 other cyclists to complete a 163-mile tour of Yorkshire’s highest peaks.

The sponsored ride is being organised to raise money for Kirkwood Hospice in Dalton in memory of Mirfield mum Lynda Sowerby.

The 41-year-old lost her fight against renal cancer there last December.

Now her husband Dave, who runs Sowerby’s Cycles in Mirfield, is aiming to raise £6,000 with the ride on August 5 to help other patients at the hospice.

Alex, 43, of Mirfield, has already raised more than £200 in sponsorship – which will be doubled by Sainsbury’s Local Heroes scheme.

He said: “I really wanted to do it – even though it will be quite a challenge – because it is for such a fabulous cause.

“Knowing Dave and the trauma he has gone through and how well he has coped, how could you not be touched by that?

“And I feel justified asking for sponsorship because it is not going to be easy.

“I am actually quite worried if I’m going to make it round, but I’ve been training for it.”

Alex will join Dave and the other cyclists at 7am in Buckden, in the Yorkshire Dales. They will follow a route including Fleet Moss, Garrowby Hill and Woodhead Pass before finishing at Holme Moss around 12 hours later.

Dave came up with the idea as a way of repaying the hospice for the excellent care it gave his wife during the last few weeks of her life.

He said: “They were all really good and I just wanted to give them something back.

“I wanted to do something harder than a charity ride – something that would call your fitness into question.

“Lynda would have thought I was mad to be doing this if she was still here. I will be thinking of her on the day, especially towards the end of the ride.”

The couple’s children – six-year-old Luke and Lucy, two, – will be there on the day to support Dave.

Anybody who can help with transport on the day or who wants to sponsor the team can call Dave on 01924 496873.