Last updated 09:42, Tuesday, 05 August 2008

A HOSPITAL consultant is looking forward to having a glass of wine on the Champs Elysees – but that’s only after she has completed a 200-mile bike ride from London to Paris.

Deb Lee is a familiar face at the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven where she is a consultant paediatrician on the children’s ward.

She set herself the challenge, along with her brother-in-law David, to improve her fitness as well as raising money for the children’s ward and Down’s Syndrome research. Her three-year-old niece, Maddy, has Down’s Syndrome, so the money will be split between the two.

Deb was also spurred on after having a cholesterol test.

“It was seven, which is quite bad but I knew my diet was okay,” said Deb. “The only thing left really was to do more exercise.”

After not being on a bike for three years, she has been training hard as well as exercising at Whitehaven Sports Centre.

They will be setting off from Greenwich and plan to do about 50 miles a day. From Newhaven they take the ferry across to Dieppe and will finish when they arrive at the Arc de Triomphe.

If you would like to sponsor Deb, email deb.lee@ncumbria-acute.nhs.uk or make cheques payable to Children’s Ward Trust Fund and send them to Claire Moore, Matron for Paediatrics, Fairfield Ward, West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven CA28 8JG. Mark envelope Bike Ride.