TEENAGE Cancer Trust is calling for local residents to get on their bikes and take part in the charity's first ever South West bike ride on Sunday, May 17.

Ride Dartmoor is for amateur and experienced cyclists alike, as there is a choice of two routes through the Dartmoor National Park — 21 miles or 60 miles.

One hundred cyclists are needed to take on the ride, which sweeps through the national park, including the ancient Clapper Bridge at Postbridge, the picturesque spot where the East and West Dart Rivers join at Dartsmeet and you can see Dartmoor Prison at Princetown.

Laura Perrett, Teenage Cancer Trust fundraiser, said: 'We're encouraging as many local people as possible to get fit, get on a bike and join us for a great day, all while raising money for desperately needed services for local young people with cancer.'

More than 200 young people aged 13 to 24 years are diagnosed with cancer every year in the South West.

Thanks to the support of local communities, TCT opened the South West's first specialist unit for young people with cancer at the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre in March 2014.

For the first time young people with cancer from across the region can now be treated alongside others the same age by staff who are teenage cancer experts, in a space specially designed to meet their needs.

'But this is only the start of what we need to do,' said Laura. 'The South West is a huge area and for every young person with cancer that we can now help, there's still another that we can't.

'To ensure that every young person with cancer has access to expert care and support no matter where they live, we need your help.'

This year it will cost more than £600,000 to fund a vital network of support across the South West to ensure that every young person with cancer will have the best chance of a positive outcome.

This includes working closely with specialist teenage and young adult cancer nurses based in hospitals in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to support young people closer to home, as well as maintaining the specialist unit and funding the youth support co-ordinator and education programme.

To find out more about Ride Dartmoor email [email protected]">[email protected], call 020 7612 0370 or visit http://www.teenagecancertrust">www.teenagecancertrust. org/ridedartmoor