Chandler Building Supplies has announced its sponsorship of this year’s Seven Port Challenge, with six of its staff members taking part.

The 180 km charity cycling challenge covers seven ports across England and France over four days.

A team of six from the builders’ merchants is taking on the difficult challenge of cycling ‘The Beast’ - a six person tandem - for the first leg of the event from Brighton to Portsmouth on Thursday 2 May.

The brave cyclists from the Brighton, Lewes, Ringmer, Petworth, Chertsey and Bookham branches of Chandlers Building Supplies are Jason Austin, Chris Vernon, Ashley Miles, Brian Smith, Stuart Campbell and Paul Hawes.

Smith said: “We’ll have to put in a lot of practice on the tandem before 2 May. It’s a very tricky bike to master and it is quite heavy too. The guys are all up for it and have committed to hours of practice to master the ‘Beast’.

“Let’s hope that our six pairs of legs are up to the challenge. We’re all looking forward to it!”

This 52 mile ride starts at the i360 in Brighton and the riders will cycle via Chandlers’s Brighton store near Shoreham port and then along to Portsmouth Harbour.

Sue McKinney, Marketing Manager at Chandlers Building Supplies, said: “As a family owned building merchants we are always keen to support the local charities in the areas in which we are located.

“We dedicated the opening of our extended Brighton store last summer to Off the Fence, homeless charity, one of the charities this event is also supporting along with the other Mayor’s Charities to include Rocking Horse, Grace Eyre Foundation and Martlets.

“We are delighted to be involved in the Seven Port Challenge and are proud of our team of six who very readily jumping at the opportunity to get involved.”

Follow the Chandlers Building Supplies team’s practice on the ‘Beast’ on twitter and Instagram: @ChandlersBS and @chandlersbuilding. To sponsor their efforts visit: www.gofundme.com/SevenPortChallenge.