A BIKE ride is marking its 20th anniversary by raising money for a charity that helped a cyclist’s son when he was diagnosed with cancer.

The 30-mile circular bike ride around the Stokesley area will this year raise funds for a charity chosen by the Ideson family, after five-year-old Jack Ideson, from Darlington was diagnosed with testicular cancer in September 2015.

Jack’s father, Kevin, noticed his son - then aged four - had a lump as he was getting him ready for his first day at school. Instinctively knowing something wasn’t right, he took him straight to hospital.

The following day, Jack had been at school half an hour when the Great North Children’s Hospital at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle rang his family and asked them to bring Jack straight back. There, medics broke the news to the family that he had cancer.

Jack has now been in remission from cancer for a year.

During treatment, the Make a Wish Foundation sent him on a trip of a lifetime to Disneyland, Paris.

Mr Ideson has been volunteering on the route of Stokesley Charity Ride for nearly a year and this year the race’s founder, Paul Mackintosh, asked him if he would like to pick a charity for the race to support.

Mr Mackintosh said: “The little lad is amazing. We had a presentation night in January this year when we announced the charity we were raising money for. I asked Kevin to come forward to say a few words and his five-year-old lad took the mic and had everybody in the audience in stitches laughing and in tears.”

He added: “That’s why we do what we do. It’s our 20th year but we never intended to do more than one bike ride, it was meant as a one-off but I got that many phone calls from people asking to do it again. It’s a family day out and it’s about raising money for a local charity.”

The bike ride has raised £131,450 in the 19 years is has been running, helping many charities close to the hearts of the cyclists taking part. Last year it raised £10,000 for Bloodwise, the UK’s biggest blood cancer charity in memory of the mother of one of the cyclists, Jez Glennon.

During the 2015 race he had cycled past his mother’s home in Stokesley to find an ambulance outside. She died on the day of the race due to complications caused by leukaemia.

Last year was also the first year Chloe Brown, 23, took part in the race. She had inspired the formation of the event in 1998 after being diagnosed with cancer aged two.

People can register for the bike ride on Sunday, May 14 for £12 on the day or £10 in advance. The deadline to apply for a place is Saturday, May 6 by post. For more details contact Paul Mackintosh on 07801 143942 or email; paulmack1@ntlworld.com

To donate visit; justgiving.com/fundraising/Kevin-Ideson