CHARITY fund raisers can bank on some added support for this year’s Dalmatian Bike Ride after Barclays staff signed up to take part in the cycling event.

Barclays business managers are all set to pull on the distinctive spotted Dalmatian ride T-shirts and saddle up to help raise funds for Newport-based St David’s Hospice Care.

The bank staff will join Paralympian cyclist Mark Colbourne MBE, from Tredegar, who will start and be at the head of the popular cycling event in and around Newport. Mark is also supporting the event, now in its fourth year, by providing sponsorship through his business, Global Cycling Camps.Com

Other sponsors are Vitality Health Insurance, Smooth Moves Letting Agents, RC Scaffolding, Maesglas Social Club, Basepoint Chepstow and The Priory Hotel.

Simon Watts, a Barclays business manager at Birchgrove, Cardiff, is taking part in the ride.

He said: “We might not be as good cyclists as Mark Colbourne but we’ll each be doing our very best to complete the course in a respectable time and also hope to raise a decent sum of money for the charity. Our sponsorship money will be matched by Barclays as part of the employee fundraising scheme.”

The fourth Dalmatian Bike Ride is being staged on Saturday, June 6, over a new course around Newport, the Wetlands and ending with a finish festival at The Priory Hotel in Caerleon.

Registration is still open but not for long. Visit www.dalmatianbikeride.com for more information or to sign up.

The organisers are also looking for marshals and volunteers to help on the day of the event, if you have an hour to spare please contact Tania Ansell on 01633 851045.