TRAINING is under way by members of the Woolston Riders, who have set themselves the gruelling challenge of riding 100 miles for six days straight.

Friends Terry Reid, aged 48, Wayne Buckles, aged 49, Mick Skerrett, aged 52, and Martin Finnegan, aged 47, - along with Stuart Hardman, aged 47, as support driver - will be setting off from Portugal on March 29 to complete their charity mission.

The team will be accompanied by their lucky mascot - a stuffed monkey who goes by the name of Dave who they count as their biggest yet quietest cheerleader.

The plan is to finish the bike ride six days later in Mojácar in southern Spain on April 3.

Martin said: "We have months of hard training ahead of us to get to the level of fitness we need to be at but we are in good shape having already trained for months."

The keen cyclists will be raising funds for Cancer Research UK in memory of Martin's cousin Melissa Renouf, who died in October 2013, aged 38, from the disease.

He said: "We have been inspired by Melissa who lost her brave battle in 2013.

“We want to raise as much as possible for Cancer Research and hope that it will go some way to one day stamp out this terrible disease.

"This ride is being funded by ourselves so all donations will go to Cancer Research."

Follow the Woolston Riders' journey on Twitter @C2Criders

To donate visit justgiving.com/WoolstonRiders.