A YORK charity bike ride will hurtle past the £1 million fundraising milestone later this year.

The 16th Big Bad Bike Ride, which has been raising money for research into a devastating neurological condition since 1991, is due to take place on Saturday September 10.

Several hundred cyclists will pedal along a circular 100 km route through the Wolds, starting and finishing at York Sports Village on the University of York's east campus.

The ride will be followed in the evening by the Big Bad Ball at the National Railway Museum, intended to celebrate 25 years of the event.

York businessman Graham Kennedy who runs Inner Space Station on Hull Road founded the ride in 1991 after two of his children were diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia, a disorder which affects balance, coordination and speech.

It raises money for Ataxia UK, which supports research into potential cures for the condition.

Mr Kennedy said the last ride in 2014 had taken the total raised to £960,000, leaving this year's event ready to smash through the £1 million hurdle.

He said he was looking for 'virgins' to take part, saying: "If someone says to you that 'I have not been on a bike for years' or 'I can’t cycle 100k', then they are exactly the people we want on this ride.

"It is not a race, but it’s about having a fantastic day and raising funds for Ataxia UK."

He said each rider would receive a 'sexy' riding jersey before the ride, and would also receive - upon registration - a book by his son Fraser, called ‘I’ve Decided’, which was life enhancing and would make them realise why raising funds for the charity was so important.

"Each rider will receive a medal to hang with pride on the inside of their toilet door to remember when they were in great shape!"

Mr Kennedy said the ball was likely to be oversubscribed, with bike riders given first priority, and so the sooner people enrolled and registered, the better their chance of being able to buy tickets.

For more information, go to www.bigbadbikeride.com