Cycling for Sight

Students, graduates and lecturers from the University's Bradford School of Optometry stopped on campus for a break yesterday as they neared the end of a charity bike ride of almost 1000 miles. 

The bike ride, which is raising money for World Sight Day, stops at all eight university optometry departments in the UK, and is due to be completed today when they arrive at Glasgow Caledonian.

Cyclists from departments around the country have joined the team for parts of the journey, but Bradford graduate Fares Hatoum and Bradford student Maadhav Kothari - president of the Bradford Cycling Club - have cycled the entire journey. 

Fares, a pre-registration optometrist, co-founded the ride, which began as a journey from Bradford to Cardiff, later taking in Plymouth, London City, Cambridge, Aston, Manchester and Glasgow.

They will be joined by Bradford optometry lecturers David Keeble and Ed Malham for the final leg of the journey, as well as organiser Gemma Hill, who sustained a leg injury on the ride and has been following them in a support vehicle. 

Blinky the horse also joined Fares on his bike when he was picked up at a charity shop on the way, and he has been attracting a lot of attention from passers by, along with Maadhav's Cher renditions. 

Gemma, an optometry student from Glasgow Caledonian, said: "Bradford University have been amazing and we couldn't have done it without them. They've really supported us and made us feel welcome."
 
To donate to the team you can text 0CFS99, followed by the amount you want to give, to 70070. You can also donate via the team's Just Giving page.