Teams are supporting Great Milk (stout) Ride

Back Row: Edward Hitchen, Marie Laverick, Tom Smith, Paul Middlebrook, Mark Barron, Susie Bryrom, Emma Green, Will McDermott and Michael Butterfield.

Front Row: Holly Brayshaw, Max Butterfield, Thomas Barron.

Left the team chew over the next moves.

A newly formed team has joined the 29 others, so far registered in this year’s Great Milk (stout) Ride. Woodhouse Wanderers is determined to make 2010 a truly memorable 18^th year. At the start of a practice ride, last week, part of the 17 strong team paused for a photograph, at the end of the lane leading to Woodhouse Farm Caravan Park at Winksley, near Ripon.

Team leader Emma Green (third from right), told us “We estimate that between us so far we have raised £750, all through sponsorship. We are holding a coffee and tombola morning in our bar and restaurant, The Barn, next Saturday. We hope to raise a further couple of hundred pounds through our Bank Holiday activities which include bingo, pub quizzes and raffles”.

Two other local teams of riders are vying with each other over the Pub Challenge Trophy this year. The Crown Hotel, Middlesmoor are determined to reclaim the trophy from the Pateley Club team, who last year wrested the cup from them, raising £1090 at their first attempt; the Crown had retained the trophy for seven out of the previous eight years. Currently the Crown is sporting twelve members to Pateley Club’s seven.

Among the 49 towns and villages so far represented at this year’s ride will be Acomb, Batley, Bedale, Bradford, Harrogate, Highburton (Huddersfield), Howarth, Knaresborough, Mapplewell, Morley, Northallerton, Pateley Bridge, Ripon, Sheffield, Shilden, South Milford, South Normanton, Wetherby and York.

Spokesman for the Ride, Cliff Barton says “there are several more teams we know are yet to enter and he stressed the importance of early registration, which saves considerable time on the day of the ride, when upwards of 100 new riders can register on the morning, each one taking a lot more time, which can delay the start”. Registration for the Great milk (stout) Ride can be done on line. To enter one of the three Rides (the 25 mile X-treme25, the 20 mile Full Monty, or the 10 mile Half Litre, riders simply log on to the Ride’s website at www.gmsr.co.uk find out all about the organisation, the sponsors, and what’s on, then register and download all necessary sponsorship forms, team sheets maps, posters, and even car window stickers.

Riders can enter as Individuals, or in teams, including Pub Challenge, Non-pub Challenge, Corporate Challenge, or Fancy Dress. There are trophies to be won in all these categories for those raising the most sponsorship money. Riders and/or supporters coming from a distance can take advantage of free overnight camping and caravanning with toilet facilities.

The Great Milk (stout) Ride has added to its claim to provided ‘all day fun for all the family’ with inclusion this year of Gerry Cottles Circus Fiesta, who will be bringing their Big Top on the Nidderdale Show Ground, Pateley Bridge, on Sunday 5^th September. Cliff Barton added, “we were approached by Tony Hopkins, of Gerry Cottles Circus, who expressed a wish to support us in our 18^th year, by bringing one of their small Circus Fiesta shows to be staged in their own Big Top, with a troupe of 14/16, including Trapeze artists Silk Flyers, Jugglers, Clowns, but no animals. It is believed to be the first time a circus has ever appeared in Pateley Bridge.

The X-treme25

In response to many requests from more serious riders the organising committee have this year introduced an additional section calling it the X-treme25 ride, which adds on a 5 mile loop to the 20 mile Full Monty ride, with a very steep initial section designed to test the stamina of all serious riders.

Registration starts at 8.30 am and the first riders are usually away by 10.00am. Upon return they are welcomed back to the Show Ground to receive their winner’s medals and signed certificates and a bottle of Yorkshire Water, who are kindly supplying us with free sports-type water bottles again this year. By then the first of days live bands will already playing, the beer tent, barbecue, bouncy castle, face painting and trade stalls will be in full swing, to make for an all-day family day out, this year with the fantastic addition of Gerry Cottles Fiesta Circus.