A 23-year-old from Yate is in training to cycle 161km across the Welsh mountains to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support after his best friend’s mother died of the disease.

Oli Cason will don a pink tutu and cycle over 100 miles in the dragon race in Wales next June. He launched his fundraising efforts at the beginning of September and is already over halfway to his £400 target for the charity.

The Rolls Royce employee is preparing to train most weekends in the lead up to the ride alongside his daily cycling commute from Yate to Filton aerospace.

Oli said: “Its devastating that my best friend’s mum passed away and my mate’s wife has now been diagnosed with this awful illness for a second time.

“I wanted to try and raise some money for this charity, so I signed up for the ride.

“Although I’ve only just signed up for the event, I raised the basic requirement money really quickly, so now I am just aiming to raise as much as I can for this charity.

““I am an avid cyclist but, I have never done anything like this before. So, this will be a test to see how much I can raise.

“Later next year, two friends and I intend to cycle the North coast 500 and parts of Scotland so we will be continuing our fundraising efforts for that.

“I will be doing the dragon ride in a pink tutu and wearing a McMillan cancer top for the ride in Wales. Hopefully I will get lots of donations for this charity.”

To support Oli go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/olicason

There are over 2.5 million people living with cancer in the UK and this is set to grow to almost 4 million by 2030.

Macmillan provide physical, financial and emotional support to help people with cancer to live life as fully as they can.