Firm creates custom bike for Jill Scott challenge
· Yahoo Sports
A bicycle manufacturer in Derbyshire has created a bike for former Lioness Jill Scott to use on a five-day challenge for Sport Relief.
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Scott will set off on 8 June from Wembley Stadium - the site of the 2022 Euros win - and travel 388 miles (624 km) to the Stadium of Light, home of her hometown club, Sunderland.
Mercian Cycles, based in Little Eaton, which also created a tandem bike for BBC Radio 1's Greg James' Comic Relief challenge, said it was building a Ventura Allroad bike for Scott, painted with "custom Sport Relief graphics".
Scott said: "The bike's great, they made sure that it's fitted so I'll ride it to the best of my ability."
Scott starts her journey on Monday, riding the Mercian bicycle on a 112‑mile (180 km) route from Wembley Stadium to Villa Park, before tackling another 99‑mile ride to Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium.
She will then take on a 38-mile (61 km) run to Manchester before a Tour de France-style 111-mile (178 km) cycle to the North East on day four.
The challenge will end on 12 June with a 28-mile (45 km) marathon finish to the Stadium of Light.
Mercian Cycles, which has been making bikes since 1946 and was rescued from liquidation in 2024, has supplied a smaller spare Ventura Allroad bike for the challenge, which is a model first built by the firm in 1952.
Bob Smith, a mechanic at Mercian, said it was "great" the firm was building another bike for a celebrity fundraiser, after the success of Greg James' recent challenge.
"I think it's down to Greg. The people who organised the rides were blown away by the bike and how Greg got on with [it]," said Smith.
"They must have thought, if they were doing another one, they would contact us again."
Smith, who hasn't met Scott in person yet, said the former footballer was "professional".
"All the dealings we have done with Jill have been great. She's a professional, she knows what needs to be done and she gets on with it," he said.
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