A HEADTEACHER is to cycle a gruelling 103-mile route as part of a school fundraiser - with some Premier League help.

Mark Dixon, head of Padiham Green CE Primary School, in St Anne’s Street, Padiham, will be joined by former Blackburn Rovers winger Stuart Ripley for the ride through France on Sunday.

The pair will begin the Pyrenean mountain trek - which is the same route used for stage 10 of the Tour de France - in the city of Pau before climbing the Col du Tourmalet and finishing on top of the Hautacam mountain.

And the eye-watering trek coincides with a ‘Fit Kids Challenge Day’ at the school on Monday in which pupils will be challenged to run a total of 103 miles - the same distance as the Pyrenean mountain ride.

Ripley, 40, a regular guest at the 180-pupil school, said: “I still live in the area so I am happy to help the school out.

“It is great to have a link and it’s nice to raise a few quid for the kids, too.

“It is also good to have a goal to train for. Now I have finished football, no one is getting me out of bed in the morning so I can concentrate on something like this.

“It will be a tough route. I think last year around 9,000 started in and 3,000 dropped out so it will be interesting to see how we get on.”

The money raised from the sponsored ride will go towards funding a multi-media presentation facility in the school hall.

Mr Dixon added: “I am doing it partly to get fit and also because Stuart is an old friend. But the real reason is because it ties in with the school’s health and fitness drive, including when we have teamed up with Burnley FC.”

Ripley played for Rovers between 1992 and 1998, and was the right winger in the Premiership-winning team of 1995.

After retiring from football in 2001, he set up a sports injury clinic in West Yorkshire and went on to complete a law and French degree at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston last year.