A GRAPPENHALL man is planning to cycle from Blackpool Tower to the Eiffel Tower for charity just four months after he took the sport up.

Chris Thompson, 34, played football for Salford City but recently started cycling so that he could join his friends on the 507 mile fundraising challenge from Blackpool to Paris.

He will be cycling with two friends and his two brothers-in-law who are all more experienced cyclists than Chris.

He said: “I’m a little bit apprehensive, but I’m the youngest one doing it so I’m hoping that my youthfulness will pull me through.

“I fell into cycling by accident to be honest – I finished playing football because age got the better of me so I decided to get a bike instead.

“The wife’s not too happy about it because we are out for hours training”

Chris had recently completed his first 85 mile ride and said he was shocked at how gruelling cycling could be.

“It’s very ambitious, I think I was a bit too optimistic about it – you think, of course I can go out on a bike.

“You really do feel it, it’s a massive shock to the system.

“It’s nice to spend time with these friends because we rarely see each other – it’s going to be a bit of a ‘bromance.’”

Chris will be joining Craig Budsworth, Dave Perkins, Paul Jackson and Phil Gilbert to fundraise for Winston’s Wish, a charity which helps bereaved children.

Craig wanted to support the charity after his close friends lost their two-year-old daughter, Natasha, in a road accident.

He said: “In over two decades of helping people who have been involved in road traffic accidents, this does not prepare you for the loss of a child who was like a niece to me. 

“When something as devastating as this happens, you struggle to see any light at the end of the tunnel but Winston’s Wish has been there to help Tasha’s parents, her twin and her other siblings, come to terms with that loss. 

“There are times when I know that they have only been able to continue to function because of the support of this wonderful charity.”

Chris said: “We were told the money we have raised so far can help 250 children in the north west deal with bereavement. That gives us a boost of confidence.”

Visit the team’s fundraising page at justgiving.com/teams/towerrangers.