FIVE cricket enthusiast friends have raised £53,000 for charity doing a bike tour of all 18 first class county cricket grounds in England and Wales.

The Potterne Spinners who made the 1,100 mile round trip are Mark Colyer, 52, from Potterne, Sam Gaiger, 42, from Market Lavington, Tim Richards, 47, from Eastcott, Jon Weeden, 47, and Steve Wells, 58, both from Rowde.

The group embarked on their epic journey on August 25 and were cycling to raise money for The Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Cancer Research UK.

The group set out an initial goal to raise £45,000 for the two charities, but have so far raised £53,000 with the cricket club’s competition still to come which could push the total to over £60,000.

Originally planned for earlier in the year, the group had to postpone the challenge from May to August, due to coronavirus restrictions, and adapt their training regimes.

The trip started at the Somerset County Cricket Club in Taunton and climaxed in Potterne, 11 days later.

Mr Gaiger, a director of Gaiger Bros in Devizes, was the brainchild behind the challenge. His wife Louise, 12-year-old son, Elliot, and daughter, Sophie, 10, all suffer from cystic fibrosis.

The plan first came about when Mr Gaiger, who has already ran four marathons for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, wanted a new challenge away from running.

He said: “I wanted to combine it with the cycling. The idea quickly gathered momentum with the others after a few pints.

Mr Gaiger, who has been part of the cricket club all of his life, said that the journey was long but the group all had a lot of fun.

“On day two we had 120 miles to do from Cardiff to West Bromwich and it was rainy, windy and cold for 85 miles. We had similar weather conditions on days three, four and five.

“It’s a long, long slog really but we have to keep going and to say to ourselves it’s harder to have the conditions for people who have cystic fibrosis or the people affected by cancer than it is for us to keep pedalling.

“We’re all extremely grateful to the generosity and kindness of spirit everyone has shown us – and again the cricket club has been a massive support to us during the whole challenge, without them we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near what we’ve done.”

“Some days weather, especially at the start of the trip, was quite heavily against us and the last week or so has been in our favour.”

Potterne Cricket Club has boosted the Potterne Spinners’ target by almost £3,000 as part of the club’s wider fundraising initiatives during lockdown.

The Potterne Spinners cycled around 100 miles a day, from Somerset to Gloucestershire, Glamorgan, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Middlesex, Surrey, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Hampshire, before the home leg to Potterne.