Wayne having bash at charity bike marathon

That’s Wayne Simpson, who is shedding blood, sweat and tears to raise 50,000 for charity.

Wayne has endured a series of painful accidents during training to ride from John O’Groats to Lands End in just 10 days, starting next week.

Wayne, who runs a Sheffield franchise for disaster restoration company Rainbow International, didn’t let his inexperience put him off deciding to help the Meningitis Trust.

But the 42-year-old from Farnaby Court, High Green is now battered and bruised.

The worst of Wayne’s tumbles came when he hit a steel chevron at the side of a road while travelling at 32mph and ended up somersaulting on to barbed wire.

“I went a good distance in the air and I hit a metal fence at quite a speed, which hurt a lot.

“I’ve not got quite as much skin as I used to have and the bruising would make you wince but they say you’ve got to get back in the saddle,” he said.

Wayne’s bike was so badly damaged that he had to borrow one from a team-mate.

But that didn’t alter his luck.

“I was in a car park and I couldn’t get my foot out of the pedal and came a cropper again.

“Then, during another session, my chain came off. But I’m not going to quit, even though somebody up there might be telling me something.”

Besides the 50,000 for the Meningitis Trust, Wayne hopes help charity Amy’s Retreat.

For six years Wayne was landlord of the Packhorse pub in High Green, where regulars gathered in 2000 to say goodbye to Amy Hall, who died aged five after a battle with cancer.

Her parents Joanne and Stephen established the charity to build a holiday home for families affected by childhood cancer.

To sponsor Wayne go online to www.rainbow-end-to-end.co.uk or call him on 01246 474474.