A TEAM of pupils from a York girls school cycled 170 miles to raise cash for a project in India.

The 13 Year 9 girls and 9 staff from Queen Margaret’s School, Escrick, and one boy from a Project Mala school in India, cycled the 170 mile, Coast to Coast, Way of the Roses route from Morecambe to Bridlington, over four days.

The team were raising funds to purchase bikes - Biking for Bikes - for pupils in Project Mala schools in India and so far they have raised enough money for 100 bikes that will help pupils in rural communities attend Project Mala schools.

The girls trained for the ride on the flat roads around Escrick during their lunchtimes in the Summer term, so the hills of Lancashire and Yorkshire came as a bit of a shock.

Quentin Sands, a teacher at Queen Margaret’s, said: “Fortunately the weather was good and the team enjoyed fair winds from the west, pushing them towards their destination.

“Although the team had the support of a back-up vehicle, it was never called upon to carry any cyclists, everyone managed to ride every mile of the route - including the longest day, 66 miles from Pateley Bridge to Pocklington.

“The team were well supported by parents who provided a range of provisions at designated ‘pit stops’.

“Most of the girls found it tough and broke through many pain thresholds especially on ‘that’ hill out of Settle - but none gave up.”

The team made a triumphant procession to the end of the ride on the promenade in Bridlington - the ice creams that followed never tasted so good.

The group have raised more than £3,000 already through their Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/queenmargaretsc2c

Project Mala was founded in 1989 as an action programme for the abolition of child labour in the hand knotted carpet industry in India.

It provides education for children in the carpet weaving belt and the programme includes education up to secondary school level, a hot midday meal for all children and healthcare facilities. 80 per cent of the funding comes from individual child sponsors.

This is not the first time pupils from Queen Margaret’s have got on their bikes to help fundraise.

In 2014 several girls undertook their own version of a tour de Yorkshire to raise funds for The Theo Trust with a very special mascot for their journey: an Edwardian penny farthing on loan from the York Castle Museum. The Theo Trust is a charity supporting Russian children in orphanages providing them residential and educational experiences in the UK.