Marathon for charity

STAFF at Coles in Ballina this week are attempting to ride from Ballina to Batemans Bay on the South Coast of NSW, without leaving the local store.

The aim is to clock up 1010 kilometres on two exercise bikes in store as a fundraiser for Red Kite, a national cancer charity which supports youth aged 24 and less, and their families.

Coles announced in January that it would be supporting the charity, with donations being made from the sale of Coles' brand bread.

But Richard Larson, the trainee store manager at the Ballina store, came up with the novel idea of the exercise bike marathon as a further way of supporting the charity.

He said the team at Coles chose Batemans Bay as their "destination" because of its distance from Ballina, and also because both towns start with the letter "B".

The 25 staff invovled in the bike ride start riding at about 10am each day, with shifts between 30 minutes to an hour, with the ride set to finish on Sunday.

Richard said none of the staff participating cycled as a hobby, but they didn't have any problem joining in the novel fundraiser.

The exercise bikes were loaned to Coles by Jetts Fitness and Sports Power.