Shropshire Bike4Life event raises £45,000 for Midlands Air Ambulance

Last weekend 5,000 bikers, including TV Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond and King of the Jungle and Superbike champion Carl Fogarty, took part in the fifth annual fundraiser for the charity.

A convoy of bikes made the 23-mile trip between Shrewsbury and RAF Cosford on Sunday as part of the Bike4Life event.

The trip was in aid of the Midlands Air Ambulance, which relies solely on donations from the public and which operates three emergency helicopters covering 5,500 square miles including Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Helen Stevens, from Midlands Air Ambulance, said: "We are absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of money raised.

"We raised £30,000 last year and were delighted with that, so to raise £45,000 this year is wonderful.

"We had a fantastic number of riders take part in the day and the support that we had from the biking community was brilliant.

"The comments and feedback we have had has been very encouraging and people are even asking about next year's event.

"I feel very proud to have been part of it.

"It was a real coup to get Richard Hammond and Carl Fogarty along to take part.

"Once we saw Carl on I'm a Celebrity we knew we wanted him to be involved but we were very unsure whether we would get him.

"But his agent was brilliant and said it was something he would definitely want to be part of and he jumped at the chance.

"Richard Hammond was also very happy to take part and even re-organised his diary a bit so that he could.

"The glowing reports we had about the event from both of them just added to the buzz of the day."

Both Hammond – who was flown to hospital in Leeds in 2006 after a crash involving a jet-powered dragster –and Fogarty have previously had reason to be thankful for the air ambulance service.

Former World Superbike champion Fogarty has used the service several times during his career.

As well as raising much-needed money for the Midlands Air Ambulance, Bike4Life also promotes road safety.