A RACE number worn by Olympic cyclist Geraint Thomas in the Tour de France was sold at auction - the latest fundraiser for St David’s Hospice Care in memory of Newport lifeguard Steven Lewis.

The signed framed race number was awarded to Mr Thomas after he won the “combativity award” on stage 12 of the 2011 Tour de France.

Mr Thomas MBE is a Welsh professional cyclist who rides for the UCI ProTeam, Team Sky and Great Britain. He’s also an Olympic and Commonwealth gold medallist and track cycling world champion and has won the 2004 Junior Paris–Roubaix, the 2010 British National Road Race Championships and the 2011 and 2014 Bayern-Rundfahrt.

The number, which fetched £51 on eBay last week, was gifted along with a Sarah Storey skin suit donated by the same anonymous person. The fund is well on its way to the target of £33,333.33 in the third fundraising year by Steven Lewis’ mum Jackie.

Geraint Thomas sent a personal message to Mrs Lewis, which said: “Congratulations Jackie on raising so much money for St David’s charity in memory of your son, Steven Lewis.

“Keep on going, Jackie!”

The next event will be the annual Spring Bank Holiday Fancy Dress Walk on May 25 starting at the Newport Indoor Bowling Centre around 1 pm.

Participants will walk along Caerleon Road to Chepstow Road and Maindee and then returning to the Newport Indoor Bowling Centre.

“We are all really excited about this year’s walk because if we haven’t yet reached our target for our third year of fundraising then this will be the event to do it,” Mrs Lewis said.

“In previous years because we have backing by certain financial institutions it has been our biggest fundraiser, always raising between three and four thousand at each walk.”

The hospice quiz was also a success, as the sell out event raised over £300 and the Bellagio Boys event at the Newport Indoor Bowling Centre on March 7 has already sold out.

So far £330 worth of raffle tickets have been sold ahead of the event, with winning prizes including four tickets for the Lionel Richie Concert at the Motorpoint Arena on March 16 and two tickets for the Wales v Ireland World Cup warm up game and other WRU merchandise.

Now Mrs Lewis is considering writing a book on her son’s life and her devotion to fundraising for the hospice which helped him.

“It has been suggested in the past because of the success of my newsletters that I document Steve’s life and our fundraising in a book,” Mrs Lewis said.

“With such a lot going on this is now being seriously considered by me and any money raised from a book would go to St David’s to help to provide the service that Steve and his family received from St David’s when we needed it most.”

Mrs Lewis hopes the book will be an inspiration to others and has already started writing.

She plans to work with an author over the summer to complete the project by August.

“If just one person could get help [from the book] and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel even when you lose someone you love,” she said.

A team Just Giving page has now been set up by Steven Lewis’ friends, including world cyclist Ryan Farley and Elleanor Johnson to raise money for St David’s Hospice in his memory.

To join the team you just need to ask to link your individual Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/teams/SDFHCSteve.

To bid visit: http://ebay.eu/1FBZ8Fa