Woman to cycle 160 miles for Green Football Weekend

The special weekend encourages fans and clubs to tackle climate change

A climate campaigner is to use a bamboo bike to cycle 160 miles (258km) from Gloucestershire to Essex to deliver a football for a match.

Kate Strong, a three-time world record-breaking cyclist, is making the journey as part of Green Football Weekend, a campaign which encourages fans, clubs and leagues to take action on the climate.

Ms Strong will present the ball at around 09:30 GMT on 3 February, at a match between Forest Green Rovers and Colchester United.

"Cyclists need to care as much as footballers and as much as tennis players – we all need to work together... it's a really beautiful metaphor," she said.

Ms Strong will be joined by various people on her journey

She will begin her ride on 1 February and cycle 100 miles, after which she will stay at a football fan's house in Barnet, north London, before continuing to Colchester.

Along the journey she will be joined by various people, including a group of Nailsea schoolchildren, from North Somerset.

"This isn't a solo journey and it’s great to share this experience with others to show that a problem shared is a problem halved, and the cycle does feel a lot shorter when there are others on it with me," she added.

She hopes the ride will encourage people "to do something" to combat climate change.

Referring to a statistic on the Green Football Weekend website, she said: “If the UK’s football fans had one veggie meal a day, we could save the equivalent to removing 5.5 million cars from the road, each year.”