Ambulance trust chiefs take on charity bike ride

Members of an ambulance team are to undertake a 55 mile (89km) cycle ride to raise money for its charity.

A number of South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) Trust executives will saddle up for the challenge on Sunday, covering the same distance as the London to Brighton Cycle Ride.

The cycle will start and end at Secamb's headquarters at Nexus House in Crawley and will include riding up Box Hill in Surrey, which formed part of the London 2012 Olympic cycling route.

The cycle ride is to launch a new campaign called Outrun an Ambulance, encouraging people over the next three months to go further than the mileage covered by an ambulance on a 12-hour shift, whether in Kent, Surrey or Sussex.

Head of Secamb charity Vicky Rees said: "We want to have enough people contribute their distances so that we beat 936 miles (1,506 km), which is the combined total of ambulances from 11 sites across the SECAmb patch."

Interim trust chief executive Jen Allan added: "Our ambulance staff and volunteers repeatedly go the extra mile when caring for patients.

"We wanted to set ourselves a challenge that could raise funds for the charity and encourage others to achieve their own personal events."

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