WILTSHIRE’S Bobbies on Bikes conquered the 900-mile trek from John O’Groats to Lands End as part of the fight against cancer this month.

On May 7, dog handler PC Steve Duffy and PC Nigel Lord from the Swindon Drugs Team joined forces with colleagues from Gwent Police, Chris Williams and Mark Sturgess, to cycle from John O’Groats to Land’s End.

The cycle challenge, which covered 900 miles in just nine days, saw the team raising money for Cancer Research UK and Embrace, which supports child victims of crime.

PC Duffy said: “We have always harboured an ambition to complete the epic journey from one end of the country to the other using only pedal power, so with this in mind we decided to complete the journey in nine days, covering just under 1,000 miles, with the support of my dad Tony, who drove a support vehicle.”

PC Lord said although the challenge was difficult, the support they have received to raise more than £3,000 has made it worthwhile.

“I had been training really hard ahead of the challenge. It was a really big commitment for us all,” he said. “It was absolutely exhausting. For at least five of the nine days, we had very strong head winds which dramatically affected the speed we could achieve and it made for some very long, hard days and late finishes. I don’t need to tell anyone how important Cancer Research is – many of you will have experienced the loss of a family member or close friend to cancer.

“I still feel cheated to this day, nearly 15 years on from the loss of my father to cancer, before he managed to make his 60th birthday.

“As a member of the expert drug witness group for which Embrace is our chosen charity and having a wife who works in the child protection unit, I felt it was important for me to do my little bit to help.

“My wife and I have seen the devastation caused to child victims of crime and their families, and we believe every little bit of kindness shown to these children by charities such as this can only help them to believe that the world is not just full of horrible people and provide them with some hope.”

Although the team has now completed the challenge, you can still donate by visiting justgiving.com/teams/JOGLEMay2015.