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Harrogate police officer's charity event featured on BBC's The One Show

Friday, 1 December 2023 23:00

Harrogate police officer Pierre Olesqui, who has created a charity bike ride in memory of a close friend, has been featured on BBC1’s The One Show.

Harrogate police officer's charity event featured on BBC's The One Show A Harrogate police officer who has created a charity bike ride has been featured on BBC1’s The One Show. North Yorkshire Police officer and Knaresborough resident Pierre Olesqui launched the Tour de Aky in 2019 after his friend PC Mick ‘Aky’ Atkinson sadly took his own life. The annual cycling event sees participants cycling 106.6 miles - a nod to Mick’s collar number - whilst raising money for various charities close to his heart. And after Pierre’s latest event saw the overall fundraising total reach £75,000, he was invited to feature on primetime BBC1 programme The One Show last night (Thursday). Watch a snippet of the show here: https://twitter.com/BBCTheOneShow/status/1730306734676222182 Tour de Aky The Tour de Aky was started by Mick’s best friend PC Pierre Olesqui in 2019 – a 106.6 mile cycle tour around West and North Yorkshire as a nod to Mick’s collar number of 1066. And in just five years, the event has raised £75,000 for charities including MIND, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Andy’s Man Club. [caption id="attachment_13500" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The Tour de Aky is organised in memory of PC Mick ‘Aky’ Atkinson.[/caption] The event earlier this year saw two groups of cyclists starting in the village of Woodlesford, where Mick was born and grew up. The 106-mile route then passed through Otley, Leathley, Castley and Burn Bridge before a pitstop at Harrogate police station. The groups then headed towards Knaresborough on its way to York. The Tour de Aky 2023 was able to raise £10,000. Read more local stories from Your Harrogate here.

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