Chelsea and England star Claire Rafferty helped Kent FA reach their goal of cycling over 5,500 miles to Rio for the Bobby Moore Fund.

With a large amount of water between the Kent FA’s Headquarters in Ditton near Maidstone and the World Cup host Brazil, staff took to an exercise bike in their lunch breaks and spare time to cycle the distance between them.

The aim was to raise awareness and money for the Bobby Moore Fund, set up in the memory of the former West Ham and England midfielder who died of bowel cancer at just 51.

The fund uses donations for research into bowel cancer and also work to increase public awareness of the disease and so far the charity has raised over £20 million with funds spent on world class bowel cancer research carried out by leading scientists working across the UK.

Each and every day over the past few months, dozens of staff that work for the Kent FA, including Chief Executive, Paul Dolan, have taken their turn at getting on the bike and pedalling the miles to Rio.

With the finishing line in sight, the Kent FA invited Chelsea Ladies and England star Claire Rafferty to join them and do her bit on the bike with the 2012 Olympics Team GB member glad to lend her support for such a great cause:

“The guys have put in a fantastic effort and they have been pedalling away since February and with only 27 miles to go, I was honoured to have been asked to take part.”

“The Bobby Moore Fund are a great inspiration to us all and hopefully we can raise as much money as we can for such a worthwhile cause.”

“Some of the amount of miles the guys have done is really impressive and I doubt I’d ever have been able to do that! We sometimes get on the bikes with Chelsea, usually when we are injured and on our way back to full fitness, so hats off to everyone that took part.”

The 25 year old from Orpington went on to visit Lunsford Primary School with the Kent FA, inspiring the next generation of female footballers and told KSN how she loves to support local initiatives:

“It’s great to get out and meet the kids and talk through some of the experiences I have had by playing and being involved with football.”

“Hopefully some feel inspired to go out and take up some sport, or like the Kent FA guys, get out on their bikes and raise some money for charity.”

You can show your support for the Kent FA team by visiting their Just Giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/BikeToBrazil