Staff from Swindon-based CMS SupaTrak, have helped to raise more than £38,000 for charity by taking on the Kent to Ghent cycle challenge.

The six-strong team joined with 30 of their colleagues and business partners from across the UK’s waste and transport industry to tackle the 160-mile challenge.

The SupaTrak team cycled around 50-60 miles a day over three days and whilst the weather stayed dry they had to contend with extremely strong head winds on the second day.

Several charities will benefit from the challenge. The team from CMS are raising funds for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Jason Airey, MD of CMS SupaTrak, said: “I’m delighted that everyone made it safely, day two was certainly a challenge with those strong winds.”

CMS’s chairman, Ian Quinlan is Vice-Chairman of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Jason Airey said: “Ian’s role at Alder Hey means that staff at CMS SupaTrak are very aware of both the pioneering and life-saving work that Alder Hay do and of the need for them to continually raise money in order to continue their work.

"We are all really pleased to fundraise for such a worthy cause.”

Over the last few months the team, whose ages range from 31 to 70, trained hard for the ride, especially Damien Penman and Gary Laver who were completely new to cycling.

The team’s most senior member, CMS’s business development director John Lancaster, said: “At 70 years old I didn’t take this challenge on lightly. Thankfully I survived being knocked-off in an accident whilst training.

"I’m delighted with the money we have raised and, as an added incentive, anyone donating £10 or more is being entered into a raffle to win my bike.

"It’s a Cannondale carbon race road bike and is worth around £1500. The raffle will be drawn on May 29 by Alder Hey’s Chief Executive. To donate to the CMS Alder Hey team go to www.justgiving.com/CMS-SupaTrak.

So that supporters back home could track progress of the event CMS provided the riders with tracking devices that showed their progress live on the team’s website. CMS also provided support vehicles for the event, which were fitted with live camera feeds that showed the ride in progress via the team’s website.

This is the second time that a team from CMS have been involved in a cycle challenge.

Last year MD Jason Airey and two other colleagues embarked on the Tower to Tower challenge, cycling From London Bridge to Paris, raising around £24,000 for charity.