Tamworth businessman Chris Harris cycling 1000km in September to raise money for Stalight charity

Chris Harris of Baypark Photos has pledged to ride 1000km through the New England region in 30 days to raise $3000 to help seriously ill children through participating in Starlight's Tour de Kids challenge.

It's a challenge that has taken Mr Harris serious preparation, completing about 170km of riding per week in the lead up to the journey, which is due to start in September.

"I've got off to a blistering start for the month on one of my main circuits. I set a [personal best] by shaving seven minutes off my previous time on this ride, 32.5km of mostly uphill riding," he said.

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He's also upgraded his gear to tackle the tremendous distance, having now invested in a road bike.

He's also well prepared for the task through his past exploits for charity, which most recently include 600km that he rode on his previous mountain bike for Westpac.

As was the case for many, the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged Mr Harris to begin exploring the outdoors and exercising more.

While his store was reduced to short trading hours he took the opportunity to lay a solid foundation for his fitness by getting out on his mountain bike.

He then became engaged in charity when looking for more to do with his newfound cycling passion.

While the distance may seem daunting, Mr Harris said that helping charities like Starlight is extremely important given the challenges that some families and their children have accessing health services.

He said he chose Starlight because a number of his friends had been helped immensely by Starlight when their kids were gravely ill.

"It does a lot in the hospital system for sick kids, and when my daughter was born she could have been one of those kids," he said.

"Starlight helps the family with things that helps make the hospital stay a little more enjoyable."

He said the help is valuable especially when kids have long-term stays in hospital.

"It's not a good time for them, and Starlight helps them get through that," he said.

Mr Harris said throughout his ride he's planning to do 100km days, sometimes back to back.

There will be four legs of his journey in the New England area but he has yet to make up his mind about where his fourth and final leg will take him.

Locals should be able to see him pedalling around solo on the roads a lot in the near future as he closes in on his $3000 fundraising goal.

You can sponsor Chris' ride by going to his Starlight page.

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