VIDEO: Staff at the Ridings in Wakefield raise £500 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance

The Ridings shopping centre staff and retailers are cycling 118 miles on exercise bikes to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
On Bikes - Milly Smith and Vicky Clapham
Lynne Thompson, Daniel Carr and Eileen Holroyd — The Ridings shopping centre staff and retailers are cycling 118 miles on exercise bikes to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. On Bikes - Milly Smith and Vicky Clapham Lynne Thompson, Daniel Carr and Eileen Holroyd

As the Tour De France passed through Yorkshire, staff set out to cycle 118 miles - the equivalent of the first leg of the iconic race - in 30 minute intervals on indoor exercise bikes.

But, the eager workers soon passed their target and kept going until they biked more than the equivalent of the second leg during the course of the two-day event.

Victoria Clapham, marketing manager at The Ridings, said: “With the Tour De France coming to Yorkshire for the very first time, we wanted to mark this very special occasion by hosting a charitable stunt in line with the race.

“We are so pleased to have raised £500 and know that the charity will put this money to good use. The Ridings’ staff and retailers would like to say a big thank you to all the shoppers who were kind enough to donate and also cheer us on. We were only going to do the first leg of the iconic race, but with your support we managed to do the second leg and some more too.”

Kerry Garner, Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s West Yorkshire regional fundraiser, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the staff and shoppers who very kindly donated. This weekend has been the busiest in YAA history and it has been fantastic to see so many organisations supporting the YAA. As an independent charity, we rely solely on the generosity of individuals and organisations such as The Ridings Shopping Centre to keep this life saving service going.

“To keep both of Yorkshire’s air ambulance in the air and maintained we need to raise £9,990 every day, which is equivalent to £3.6million a year.”