SEVERAL Borders towns and villages are set to feature on the route of the BBC’s charity Rickshaw Challenge when it returns to the region later this month.

Since 2011, The One Show’s Rickshaw Challenge has seen a team of young cyclists, together with presenter Matt Baker, take on a brand new route each year, covering hundreds of miles across the UK.

This year’s group will pedal 500 miles to raise money for BBC Children in Need.

And in a first for the challenge, the team will embark on their journey from London, riding north to the River Clyde in Glasgow.

Team Rickshaw will arrive in Hawick on Wednesday (November 15) evening for an overnight stay in the region before saddling up early on the Thursday to head north along the A7.

The cyclists will pass through Ashkirk, Selkirk, Caddonfoot, Clovenfords, Fountainhall and Heriot on their journey north.

The six youngsters, all of whom have been supported by BBC Children in Need funded projects in the past, will push themselves to the limit, battling steep hills and braving the elements in the hope that their efforts will help them raise as much money as possible – all of which will go on to make a difference to young lives across the UK.

The group will set off on Thursday, November 9, from The One Show studio at New Broadcasting House in London and will work their way across the UK in a bid to cross the finish line in Glasgow on Friday, November 17, during the BBC’s Children in Need appeal show.

The challenge will be followed along the route by The One Show and will be featured during its live broadcasts every weekday evening at 7pm on BBC One.

Last November, Matt and the team launched the rickshaw challenge within Jedburgh Abbey, before travelling south through England to London.

And in previous years the rickshaw challenge has passed through Peeblesshire as well as Selkirk and Hawick.