Avnet boss Watt gets on his bike

Avnet European chief Graeme Watt set to cycle from Cornwall to Wandsworth to raise money for two very good causes

Graeme Watt is donning his cycling shorts for a gruelling 270-mile ride in the name of charity next month.

Avnet’s global vice president and European president has been training hard for the event, which will see 125 people cycle from Trevose Golf Club in Cornwall on Friday 20 June to Trinity Fields in London on the Sunday to raise money for two charities: the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and Child Bereavement UK.

The event – known as the Milligan Charitable Bike Ride – was launched after the tragic deaths of father and daughter Nicko and Emily Milligan, who died in a speedboat accident in Cornwall last May.

Speaking to CRN, Watt said: “Everybody on the ride knew the Milligans, and they are good friends of ours, so it is a cause very close to me.

“However, I am not a natural cyclist and I really don’t like hills. I can go as fast as the next man on the flat, but I go very slowly up hills. I have been training hard, in fact I have taken up cycling just for this event. It is painful, [but] I don’t suffer with painful legs like other people, I tend to get pain in my shoulders, hands and back, so painkillers are forming a large part of my training regime,” he said.

“Initially we wanted to raise £100,000, but we have already more than doubled that to over £220,000 and are still keen to raise even more. I am very happy with the amount I have raised, with Gift Aid, it comes to nearly £5,000 – so thanks to everyone who has sponsored me so far,” he said.

Watt said that when signing up for the ride they were asked whether they were competing, completing or conquering. “I am most definitely completing,” he quipped.

There is still plenty of time to add your donation. To do so, visit Graeme’s JustGiving page here.

Best of luck from the CRN team!