Paramedic to raise money on 100-mile cycle challenge
A member of a specialist emergency services team is taking on a charity bike ride.
The Midlands Air Ambulance charity has been looking for 10 volunteers to take on a 100-mile fundraising challenge and have found one of their own to take on the feat.
Aircrew supervisor and critical care paramedic for the charity, Jim Hancox, has signed up has signed up and will be taking to two wheels for the Velo ride through the Midlands.
He'll be taking a break from saving lives to represent the charity on the march throughout the Midlands, hoping to raise hundreds of pounds in the process.
Around 17,000 riders are expected to join Jim on the route on May 12.
The event will start and finish in Birmingham City Centre.
The closed-road journey will also pass through Dudley and Sandwell as well as wider parts of the West Midlands such as Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire.
This year the route is steering clear of Staffordshire after controversy on last year's event.
Many villages in South Staffordshire and Dudley were brought to a standstill, prompting complaints, meaning that this year's route will briefly enter Sandwell and Dudley before the route turns East towards Halesowen and down the Hagley Road West towards the finishing line in Birmingham.
Despite the controversy the event acts as a great way of raising money for a number of charities with more than £2 million being raised in 2017.
Cure Leukaemia, the Alzheimer's Society, children's charity NSPCC and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham are all causes that have received money from the event in the past and are also being helped by generous riders during this year's event.
