PALS Richard Longley and Ayrton Lowther were disappointed to have missed their target of five days to cycle from John O' Groats to Land's End by a mere three hours.

Ayrton said a combination of gusting winds, torrential rain and large lorries wanting to occupy the same piece of road had forced them to stop cycling on two evenings of their challenge.

"If we had had just a few hours weather like this on one of those days we would have breezed it" he stated cheerfully as he stood under the Land's End sign in beautiful sunshine, despite having cycled for over 12 hours a day for most of the week.

Richard, from Coleford, said the idea for the five-day marathon had coalesced in the pub, "as such things usually do", when the old school friends had met by chance.

"But it still seemed like a good idea in the morning so we set a date for October. However I would recommend that anyone who wants to try it check the weather forecast first. At times the wind was so bad it seemed like we were going backwards."

The challenge would not have been possible without the help of Richard's father, Dr Jeff Longley, who provided the support.

"Watching the lads power on in the wind and rain was quite something. But what I didn't expect was the challenge I had in not joining them in eating 7,000 calories a day. I have never seen so much chocolate!" he said.

The pair decided to use their self imposed challenge as a chance to raise money and chose to support Prostate Cancer Research. They are nearing their target of £2,000 and would like to thank all those who have been so generous in their support. If anyone would like to add to the fund they can donate via justgiving. com/ayrtonandrichard