THREE former Manchester United stars visited Great Budworth on Sunday - with club legend Gary Neville saying he thought the village was ‘amazing’.

Gary and Ryan Giggs were in Northwich to take part in a 110km charity bike ride as part of Vimto’s 110th birthday celebrations

Gary was joined by his brother Phil, who is now coach of the England women’s team, who got the event under way.

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The Guardian caught up with the trio before the start of the challenge.

Gary said: “The village is amazing, I’ve never been here before in my life and driving through I was thinking ‘where did this come from’?

“I have been looking forward to this event, this has been in my calendar for a long time now.

“I’ve really enjoyed my fitness work over the past couple of years.

“I was on my bike to Manchester most days the summer before last but this year with the World Cup I have not been able to.

“If I had been working today I would not have been able to take part but because I was on the Tottenham and Liverpool game I was able to be here for this.

“What people don’t realise about these big companies is that they do have this side to them with the charity work and it does not get publicised enough.

“This is a brilliant event today, a lot of people have turned up and you can see there is a lot of energy around.

“On the group WhatsApp chat we have, Ryan was talking very aggressively around how he was going to pull away from me.

“I did reply saying how I thought this was meant to be a team event where we are meant to pull each other through it not the other way round!”

In its biggest charity fundraiser yet, 110 cyclists from Vimto, WYC and partners such as Tesco, Princes and KPMG joined forces to take on the challenge through Cheshire villages and the Tatton country estate.

The event raised more than £110,000 for Warrington Youth Club, a registered charity dedicated to supporting young people’s development, offering opportunities to develop skills, knowledge, self-awareness and confidence.

Ryan told the Guardian: “I haven’t really prepared, I used to go out on my bike quite a lot though and I try to keep myself as fit as possible so it shouldn’t be too bad.

“I don’t really train with the Wales team so I usually go the gym to keep fit.

“I got asked to take part a few months ago and obviously it’s a great cause for the youth club and we want to support local initiatives as much as we can I did not take much convincing to come down.

“It’s been a fantastic day and great to see Vimto’s commitment to the local community, just as they support development of young football talent at the Salford City FC academy.”