Four local men carried out an epic journey riding on mountain bikes from St. Ives, Cornwall, back home to the Crown, Chalfont St. Giles. They battled steep hills, local traffic and even a Jack Russell and in doing so they raised over £4000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Scott is a local sports massager and fitness instructor who treats local people and professional athletes alike. His cousin gave birth to a beautiful baby girl (Kaitlin) last year who had to have major heart surgery within the first few weeks of her life. Without the skills of the Great Ormond Street team Kaitlin would have died very quickly, but she has since had a second operation and celebrated her first birthday last week.

Scott had previous spent three days cycling in the Pennines to raise money for this amazing cause, but he wanted to do more. During the course of a regular massage, he discussed carrying out a charity event with Freddie Fox (a local actor who is famous for his current role in “The Three Muskateers”). Although Freddie is a complete novice cyclist, he jumped at the idea of helping such a good cause and even roped two of his friends in to join them on the cycle. One of Scott’s friends, Buzz, dedicated a week of his time (and his van) to act as the support vehicle for the journey. Buzz’s experience as a bike mechanic and his ability to know exactly when the lads needed a cup of tea made him an irreplaceable part of the team. The four cyclists had no intention of making it easy on themselves and they choose to use mountain bikes and rode for around 8 hours a day to complete nearly 400miles in just six days.

Scott admitted that the younger lads had more uphill speed than him in the early miles. He laughed as he described how he fell sideways off his bike when his forward momentum up a hill reduced to zero and showed me an impressive bruise to prove it! But Scott wasn’t the only one to have bruises. As twilight approached on Bournemouth beach a Jack Russell with “little man syndrome” ran towards Freddie, causing him to swerve. His front wheel became stuck in the sand and he fell sideways straight into the sea.

They arrived home last Saturday to be greeted by around 50 supporters who were waiting at the Crown pub along with celebrities such as Frederick Forsyth. The £4000 raised by the event will enable Great Ormond Street Hospital to care for sick babies such as Kaitlin and if you are interested in adding to the money raised by Scott and his team, visit his website at: http://www.scottheath.co.uk/ Based on information supplied by Tamsin Smith.