Story
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> ***** We did it!!! *****</span></strong></p>
<p>On Sunday 1st April, <strong>Mark Smith</strong> and <strong>Alec Vallintine</strong> (along with top translator <strong>Mick Hammond</strong> - merci beaucoup!!) tackled '<strong>The Hell of the North' </strong>and rode <strong>'The Paris-Roubaix Challenge</strong>', cycling 152km from Saint Quentin to the Roubaix Velodrome, along the way riding 32km of brutal, uneven, bone and bike shaking pav<span>é. </span>Of over 1200 cyclists that started early Sunday morning, only 893 finished, including us.......thanks to all of you that have supported and sponsored us, we've raised a fantastic amount of money for <strong><span style="color: #339966;">Macmillan Cancer Support</span></strong> to ensure our <strong>'Day In Hell'</strong> has really helped benefit those 900 people diagnosed with cancer on the same day and whose personal hell may have only just begun.</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> ***** Thank you all *****</span></strong></p>
<p>Of all the pro-cycling road races, <strong>'Paris-Roubaix</strong>' is the toughest of the one day classics and has been run since 1896. The 2012 race is on Sunday 8th April, and crosses the battlefields of World War I in Northern France, utilising many sections of rural pav<span>é</span> (or cobblestone) roads, some laid by Napoleonic prisoners of war. The harshness of the terrain and unforgiving nature of the pav<span>é</span> has earned the race the nickname of <strong>'The Hell of the North'</strong>. You can watch it on <strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Eurosport</span></strong> to see how the pro's do it instead of two fat middle aged blokes and one slim francophile in lycra!!!</p>