SUBARU UK has launched an ambitious fundraising campaign for Japan – a nationwide cycle relay.

Its entire dealer network from Cornwall to Inverness will take part in the relay and which will cover 3500 miles and take over two months to complete.

Chairman of the company Lord Edmiston, group managing director Andrew Edmiston, Subaru UK’s new managing director Darren James and operations director Paul Tunnicliffe all took to their bikes to ride the first leg of the relay, from the Subaru UK headquarters in Coleshill to local dealer Carstins, nine miles away at Balsall Common.

The idea behind the cycle relay is to raise awareness of the campaign as well as for each of the dealers to raise individual sponsorships for their own leg of the journey.

Some dealers are set to have their work cut out more than others, with distances between sites varying from 15 to 130 miles!

It is anticipated the cycle relay will finish in mid-October by the time it has gone to all four corners of the UK, including a trip across the water to Northern Ireland.

Subaru UK has identified a specific charity partner, AAR Japan (Association for Aid Relief) where money raised through its efforts here in the UK will go to mobile clinic services which provide paramedics, nurses and medical supplies to people displaced by the earthquake.

As a further show of support, Tunnicliffe visited the AAR offices in Tokyo last month to meet the team working first hand with the mobile clinic services.

Lord Edmiston said: ‘While for some, the devastating earthquake that hit northern Japan in March may have disappeared from the news agenda, the relief efforts are still in the early stages and are scheduled to take three to five years to complete.

‘Because we have a small network we were keen to involve as many of our dealers as possible’

‘We are a relatively small operation in comparison to other Japanese car makers and so at Subaru UK we wanted in particular to achieve two things with our fund raising efforts.

‘We wanted to identify a specific project in Japan that we could support and where there would be real, tangible benefits and secondly because we have a small network we were keen to involve as many of our dealers as possible.

‘I’m delighted that the vast majority are involved with the project and will be doing their bit for this worthwhile cause.’

As a further fund raising initiative, Subaru UK is also offering a brand new Outback 2.5 SE Lineartronic worth £28,075 as a competition prize. The car will act as a support vehicle throughout the relay to carry spare bikes and parts for participating cyclists and has been fitted with GPS.

To win the Outback, customers will need to visit their local Subaru dealer to buy a ticket or text in their answer to a simple question featured on the side of the car.

The company is hoping to raise in excess of £50k through the event. The national relay can be followed on the Subaru UK website (www.subaru.co.uk) and where a daily blog will also feature.