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As Event Managers of the British Transplant Games, MLS have this week been promoting Organ Donation in West Orchard Shopping Centre, Coventry.

Players from Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Team and Coventry Rugby Club will be getting on their bikes this week to raise awareness of World Kidney Day and organ transplantation.

The players will join volunteers at the West Orchard Shopping Centre in Coventry on World Kidney Day, Thursday 12 March, to cycle 90 miles on exercise bikes.

The event is being organised by the Westfield Health British Transplant Games, which are due to take place in Coventry this summer. Last year the Games took place in Sheffield and the 90 mile target is the distance from Sheffield to Coventry.

Shoppers are invited to come and support the volunteers at West Orchard as they cycle in shifts from 8.30am until 5.30pm.

The Games Cycling Sports Manager Mick Ives will also be hitting the saddle at West Orchards to complete 90 miles on his own. Mick is the five times World Transplant Games Cycling Champion and 64 times British Champion.

The Westfield Health British Transplant Games will take place from 30 July until 2 August 2009 at venues across Coventry and they are being organised by the charity Transplant Sport UK.

The University of Warwick will be home to the Games Village for more than 600 athletes and 1,500 supporters from all over the UK. The Games is also being supported by Coventry City Council and Coventry University.

All of the athletes taking part in the Games have had organ transplants and the aim is to encourage promote awareness of the need for more people to sign on to the NHS Organ Donor Register. There are currently 10,000 people waiting for organ transplants in the UK, 500 – where is this from? of these live in the West Midlands and many will die waiting.

The Local Organising Committee and the charity Transplant Sport UK has set a target of getting 19,000 signatures on the NHS Organ Donor Register from Coventry and Warwickshire by September 2009. That would be an increase of 5,000 signatures for the same period when the Games are not being hosted in the City, reducing the number of deaths in the region every year due to the shortage of Organ Donors.

Peter Ford, Chair of Transplant Sport UK, said: “The current gap between those waiting for a transplant and people on the register is increasing and we are becoming more and more desperate for donors. The event will help people to understand why it is so important to sign up the NHS Organ Donor Register. We are really looking forward to bringing the Games to Coventry and we are confident we can hit our 19,000 target.”

To register on the NHS Organ Donor Register please telephone 0845 60 60 400 or go to www.uktransplant.org.uk to register online. Most importantly, please discuss your wishes with your family and friends - thank you. For further general information about transplantation, please contact the UK Transplant press office on 0117 975 7518/7475/7477