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<p dir="ltr">On 15th September, a team of MEC Manchester employees and friends will be setting off from the beach in <span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Whitehaven </strong></span>in Cumbria and attempting to cycle all the way across the country until we reach the North Sea in <strong>Tynemouth </strong>- an epic <strong><span style="color: #ff6600;">140 mile ride across the country over three days.</span></strong></p>
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<p dir="ltr">All being well, we'll arrive in time for a quick night's sleep before running the <span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Great North Run </strong></span>the following day, taking us to a total of <strong><span style="color: #ff6600;">153 miles of running and cycling over four days</span></strong>.<span style="font-family: Helv;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr">Why are we doing this? We're hoping to encourage some donations for <strong>Elise for Life</strong>, an appeal set up to raise funds for the Christie Hospital in Manchester.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Elise for Life is MEC Manchester's chosen charity for 2011, and was created with the aim of raising £1m for the Christie in memory of Elise Roberts, the sister of MEC's Client Services Director Nola Calladine.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"> Elise was a patient at the Christie and battled courageously for 9 months with malignant melanoma. Her legacy is this appeal, set up by her, in her name, for the treatment, care and support of others. All money raised by the appeal will be split equally between melanoma research and The Christie's new clinical trials unit.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">All the costs of entering and completing this event are being covered by the participants, meaning all donations will go directly to the appeal. More information on the appeal can be found at <strong>www.eliseforlife.org</strong>, and we'll provide a full report on the highs, lows, flat tires and blistered soles accumulated en route after the event via the MEC Manchester blog (<a href="http://www.mecmanchester.co.uk">www.mecmanchester.co.uk</a>)</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Thanks for your support</p>
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<p><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><em>Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.</em></span></p>
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<p><em><span style="color: #808080;"><span style="color: #000000;">So please dig deep and donate now</span>.</span></em></p>