BBC Children in Need rickshaw challenge coming to Banbury

Banbury will play a central role in the annual rickshaw challenge for BBC Children in Need this year, it was revealed last night (Wednesday, October 11).

The One Show host Matt Baker and his team of six teenagers will be cycling 500 miles from London to Glasgow next month to raise money for vulnerable children in the UK.

Banbury will be the end of day two of the group’s mammoth challenge, having set off from north London, and the start of day three as they travel to Cannock.

The challenge begins on Thursday, November 9, so the team will reach Banbury at the end of November 10, having cycled 63 miles, before setting off on the 65-mile route to Staffordshire the next day.

Six young adults who have been helped by Children in Need projects, from across the UK, will be joining Baker on the journey, as well as a few celebrities who are yet to be confirmed.

The challenge ends in Glasgow on November 17, where this year’s Children in Need appeal show is being held.

According to the route map, the team will come from the capital through Aylesbury, around the north of Bicester across the A43 to Aynho, through Adderbury and up the A4260 Oxford Road into Banbury.

The next day, they will cycle up Warwick Road through Warmington, past the Kineton army barracks to Gaydon and onto Warwick and beyond to Cannock.

Since 2011, the rickshaw challenge has raised over £16m for BBC Children in Need, and every penny that is donated goes towards helping children and young people across the UK.