Reserve team defender Carl Magnay is setting off a on a cross country bike ride this weekend, in support of a charity close to his heart.

Nineteen-year-old Carl's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the season, but thanks to charity Inflammatory Breast Cancer UK (IBC UK), she responded well to treatment and is on the road to a full recovery.

To show his appreciation the centre-half, who missed just two reserve games this campaign, will be setting off on a gruelling route across the breadth of the country.

'We are starting on the 24th from north-west to north-east and hope to be back for the morning of the 26th,' Carl explains. 'We are starting from Whitehaven in Cumbria and going up over the Lake District, so it's a challenging route, ending in Seaburn in Sunderland.

'We aim to do about 70 miles on the first day, and on the second day we'll only be able to do about 40 miles because of the tough terrain, and the last day is all downhill, so hopefully we'll get it done in three days,' he says.

'I've got myself a bike down here, and the one I'll be using is back home in the north-east. I've been cycling around Leatherhead, Cobham, Weybridge and all the local area. There are woods nearby too which is a decent terrain to practice on.'

In between training for the event and working with Brendan Rodgers and his team-mates, Magnay has been working hard to raise cash from inside the club.

'I've tried to publicise it around the club as much as I can, because something like this affects you deeply when it happens to someone in your family, and I've tried to raise as much awareness as possible,' he says.

'If it's caught early it can be dealt with whereas it can be a big killer if you're not aware of it early enough. So to raise as much publicity for it as possible is as important, so I've spoken to Chelsea TV and the magazine too and they've been hugely supportive.

All the guys have been fantastic and JT has been going round all the players getting great donations in for us. I'm amazed at how open everyone has been to it, and the really satisfying thing for me was taking up to the Academy to the boys who are on scholarship wages, and I've had to take extra sheets up there because they are all so happy to donate.'