THEY thought it would be a cool idea to wear Morph suits to promote their epic charity bike ride – but they hadn't bargained on the summer heat wave.
A group of former Beverley Grammar School friends are gearing up to cycle 1,000 miles from John O'Groats to Land's End, to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.
Three of the five friends visited their former school in Morph suits for a non-uniform day, which has raised hundreds of pounds for the charity.
Dan Cameron, Sami Kimyongur and Alex Mason were all feeling the heat when they rolled up to promote the ride they will be tackling with former schoolmates Adam Kirk and Ben Turner, all aged 21.
Dan, a creative advertising graduate, said: "The suits are really, really hot!
"We won't be able to do the cycle ride in them but we will be putting them on for photos at landmarks along the route. We will also wear them to cycle into Beverley during the ride."
Medical biochemistry graduate Sami said: "We will be riding an average of about 80 miles a day but I don't think we will be cycling very far in the Morph suits, we were sweating just cycling to the school in them."
Next month's charity challenge, which has already raised £3,428 in pledges before the riders even set off, has been masterminded by law graduate Adam Kirk.
Adam wanted to raise funds and awareness for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign after being diagnosed with a rare form of the degenerative illness, which his father David, 50, suffers from.
The 21-year-old is not yet affected by the disease, which causes progressive muscle weakness, so he is determined to use his good health to raise awareness and research funds.
Adam said: "I can't wait for the bike ride. We are all very much excited about the whole trip.
"It will be exhausting but the pain will mean nothing when we get to the end, the sense of accomplishment will overwhelm us all, I'm sure."
Adam said the Morph suits were chosen in blue and orange because they are the colours of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.
He said: "When we decided to do the cycle ride I thought it would be cool to do it in a different way, in fancy dress or something.
"I looked around the internet for ideas and saw you could get Morph suits in orange and blue, like the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign colours.
"I asked if they'd sponsor us and they said they would in exchange for pictures of us around the country wearing them.
"We'll wear them going through main towns, cities and points of interest across the country – we'll just be getting changed into them to pass through and do some bucket collections."
Beverley Grammar School pupils made donations to the charity challenge in exchange for being allowed to go to boys' secondary in orange-coloured clothes for a non-uniform day.
Dan, Sami and Alex also delivered school assemblies to raise awareness about muscular dystrophy.
Adam said: "We are all extremely grateful to Beverley Grammar School for helping us – they have shown a real sense of community.
"With less than a month to go until the bike ride, it's fantastic to see we are still receiving support from the local community."
