THREE sons set off from Newport on a 400-mile cycle ride yesterday [Wednesday, August 20] in memory of their late father, while their sister gave birth to a baby girl.

Matthew, Nick and Tim Burn are aiming to cycle to all 15 branches of Boswells cafe chain, in memory of their dad, Jeremy Burn, who founded the chain.

Mr Burn died of pancreatic cancer in 2012, just a few weeks after he was diagnosed with the disease.

The three brothers, part of a team of eight, including their half-brother Charlie, set off at 7.30am and had already left when they heard their sister had gone into labour.

Charlotte Jones, whose husband Nick Jones was part of the cycling team, gave birth to the baby girl but told Nick to carry on cycling.

Mrs Jones said: “Nick is still cycling; he has put so much into the training I wanted him to continue. I have my Mum with me luckily.”

The cycling team are completing the mammoth Le Tour de Boswells in just four days, in an attempt to raise money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

Boswells director, Matthew Burn, said: “Dad was an inspiration to us. He was a brilliant father, businessman and mentor. It was a terrible shock to lose him so quickly after he was diagnosed.

“He should have had many more years to enjoy retirement after working so hard all his life to build the business. We wanted to do something really positive, to raise awareness of this disease and raise money for research that will help others survive."

The team were joined by Mayor of Newport, Councillor Matthew Evans, just before they left yesterday morning.

He said: “It was nice to be able to support them and support such a worthy cause, especially as pancreatic cancer is apparently the most lethal of cancers.

“They all looked pretty fit and healthy when they set off this morning.”

Each Boswells cafe will also be holding their own fundraising ‘spinathon’ competition to see who can rack up the most miles on static bikes, while raising money for charity.

The Newport ‘spinathon’ event will be held on Saturday, September 27 in the Kingsway Centre and customers are encouraged to join in.