Rail staff cyclists known as the Bonkers Bikers have completed their ride across three countries over the May bank holiday.

The 400km ride was in aid of Birmingham‘s Children’s Hospital Charity, for which they successfully raised over £44,000.

18 bikers from the rail industry’s supply, freight, infrastructure, and passenger sectors rode from Leeds to Cologne via the Netherlands.

They began at the RTS Infrastructure Service’s Depot in Holbeck and headed to Hull.

From there, they took an overnight ferry to Europort, Rotterdam, where they cycled to Cologne with a short visit through the Netherlands and into Germany.

The primary sponsor for the cycling event was Freightliner Group, which provided cycling jerseys, two support vans, and fuel.

This is part of the reason that the route visited their depot, and Freightliner were further featured while in the Germany section of the route.

They rode down the middle of the Wildenrath test track, where Freightliner were involved in the commissioning of the Siemens Class 350/1 fleet in 2004.

They received donations from family, friends and colleagues, but also saw significant donations from sponsors in exchange for logo representation on their jerseys.

RTS Infrastructure, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, Velociti Solutions – Rail, Graphite Partners, Chiltern Railways, TXM Consult, The OPC, and Incremental Ltd all made donations to the cause.

Cross Country Trains also provided complimentary train tickets to get all the riders to their start point.

The riders carried out everything themselves, from route planning to paying for their own food and accommodation, to ensure all funds went to the charity.

This marks the third year in a row the bikers have completed an event in support of the children’s hospital. While the ride is complete, people can still donate on the team’s page.

“As a team of rail professionals, planning and organising is part of the day job. Being able to use these skills to arrange a charity bike ride represents a donation in time worth thousands of pounds that would otherwise divert funds away from the charity.”

Darren Ward, organiser of the event