• Geoff Cousins, chairman at G&P and blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia, swaps the driving seat for the saddle
• The Cure Leukaemia London 2 Paris charity bike ride is set for September 2021 and is its biggest event in five years
• Money raised will go towards funding vitally important clinical trials to treat blood cancer

The former managing director of Jaguar UK, Geoff Cousins, who is now chairman at Cure Leukaemia and automotive quality management provider G&P, is swapping horse power for pedal power.

He will be one of 200 riders taking part in this year’s London 2 Paris charity bike ride in Blood Cancer Awareness Month this September, which is raising money for Cure Leukaemia.

All funds raised will be invested in the national Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP), a network of 12 specialist research nurses in the UK’s biggest hospitals and a Hub based at the Centre for Clinical Haematology in Birmingham.

The Cure Leukaemia funded TAP enables accelerated setup, patient recruitment and delivery of blood cancer clinical trials benefitting patients within a UK catchment area of over 20 million people.

And with just a few months left before the cyclists head off, Cure Leukaemia is looking to fill the last few available spaces on the event. Participants must commit to raising a minimum amount of £1,500 sponsorship money.

To see what’s involved in the bike ride, together with the great team spirit and comradery among the cyclists, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJvWpIPK5fE

Geoff, himself, has particular reason for supporting the cancer charity Cure Leukaemia as he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2005.

Despite not even owning a bike when agreeing to take part in the charity bike ride, Geoff is now training by riding 100 miles a week around Warwickshire, where he now lives.

The practice will surely come in handy when it comes to tackling the four-day ride with the other riders, having to cover up to 80 miles a day in the saddle before crossing the finish line in central Paris.

Geoff said: “Cure Leukaemia fund ground-breaking work that gives patients access to potentially lifesaving treatments for blood cancer which, unfortunately, still devastates too many lives.

“Despite the impact of COVID-19 on the charity, Cure Leukaemia announced earlier this year that five new clinical trials will be opened in 2021 so it is vital that networks like TAP remain funded to connect patients with the latest treatments.

“The London 2 Paris bike ride is one of its most popular major fund-raising events and I would urge anyone who can make a donation to please do so, or better still, come and join us on the ride and help raise as much money as possible.”

Around 14,000 people a year die from blood cancers in Britain, and a person is diagnosed every 14 minutes while the prospect rate of survival for many adults with blood cancers is still less than 50 per cent.

To make a donation on Geoff’s JustGiving page, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Geoff-Cousins, for more information about Cure Leukaemia, visit www.cureleukaemia.co.uk/, while for details of the London 2 Paris bike ride, visit https://www.l2prevolution.com/