STAFF from a Swindon hotel are gearing up for a charity cycle ride to Swansea.

A team from the Swindon Marriott in Old Town, including manager Joanne Taylor-Stagg, are part of a cycling relay group that hopes to cover the distance of over 100 miles.

The sponsorship money raised will go to Hospitality Action, which is the benevolent fund for the hospitality industry.

Craig Greason, team member and restaurant and bars manager, said: “Hopefully we’ll all stick together and help everybody get through.

“It’s just to build awareness for the charity.”

The team will leave the Swindon Marriott Hotel at 5.30am on Sunday, May 23, and hope to complete the ride and arrive at the Swansea Marriott Hotel in around 11 hours.

The challenge is part of the Marriott’s Spirit to Serve our Communities campaign, in which employees give back to the community, and ties in with Hospitality Action Week.

A total of 35 people are taking part in the challenge, including 15 from the Swindon Marriott who organised the event, and others from another six hotel branches including Swansea and Bristol.

The distance has been divided into 10 stages with each stage being cycled by around six or seven competitors.

The stages are divided up unequally, from nine miles up to 18 miles, in order to take account of the hills involved on some parts of the course.

Each stage will have a support car on standby nearby.

The team will use A and B roads for the first part of the journey but then hope to join a cycle trail from Chepstow to Swansea.

Mr Greason said the Swindon team had been doing some training individually to make sure they could keep up on the day.

The team hope to raise £3,000 in total, and the Swindon branch has already raised £270.

Hospitality Action helps those in the customer service industry, including hotel and pub staff, with everything from health problems to business difficulties.

Mr Greason said: “In the hospitality industry it can be a bit of a boom and bust situation.

“It’s a stressful environment dealing with the public so it’s nice to know we have got that support.

“Hopefully we never get to that point, but the charity has been very helpful to those individuals.”

To sponsor the ride visit www.justgiving.com/Swindon2 SwanseaMarriottCycle.

To find out more about Hospitality Action visit www.hospitalityaction.org.uk.