Harrogate couple about to set off on 2,000 mile bike ride across Europe for MSF charity

Charity mission - Andy Dennis is a staff nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Harrogate District Hospital while his partner Tracey Hill is a staff nurse at the Nurse Dermatology Department at York Hospital.

Harrogate's 'Cycling Nurses' take on Ride to the Rock for charity that helps people in Ukraine

Andy and Tracey have been preparing for their marathon journey for nearly two years.

Andy Dennis is a staff nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Harrogate District Hospital while his partner Tracey Hill is a staff nurse at the Nurse Dermatology Department at York Hospital.

The gruelling new fundraiser is part of the couple's decade-long mission to support Médecins Sans Frontières /Doctors Without Borders - with the aim of raising £200,000 for he international medical charity which supports people in places such as Ukraine.

Between them, they have so far raised a combined total of over £130,000.

Ride to the Rock will see the couple cycle to Brussels, Paris, over the Jura Mountains to Geneva, through the Alps to the Mediterranean coast, they will then cycle all the way along the Med coast, crossing the Pyrenees to Barcelona before pushing on to finish in Gibraltar in July.

They plan to engage with various media and schools on their journey in order to spread the word about MSF and their fundraising project.

Andy said: "The physical challenge element of our fund-raising is remarkably rewarding.

"We see kindness and generosity every day, Tracey and I have been overwhelmed by the support we have received during our preparation" .

"The goal of this challenge is to raise as much money as possible for MSF, they then turn your money into bandages, medications, oxygen masks and vaccines for the poorest for the most desperate people on the planet".

Andy has worked on four missions with MSF in Uganda during the conflict between the government and the Lords Resistance Army, twice in South Sudan and during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Tracey is a nurse in the Dermatology department at York hospital. She met Andy when she was a student nurse in the Intensive Care Unit in Harrogate in 2012.

Six months after they met , Andy was away for six months in South Sudan.

The long-suffering Tracey supports Andy's activities whilst running her own fundraiser for MSF, she recently raised over £1,000 with a jumble sale in St Andrews Church in Starbeck.

To read about Andy and Tracey's odyssey and support their fundraising, visit:

www.andy4msf.com

www.thecyclingnurse.co.uk

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