A NORTH-EAST doctor has raised £5,000 for a charity close to his heart, by completing a 650-mile bike ride in the US.

Diabetes specialist and consultant physician Professor Rudy Bilous, who works at the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, cycled from Nashville to New Orleans to raise the cash for Diabetes UK.

Yesterday, he biked over to the charity's regional office in Darlington to hand over a cheque.

He said: "The one-week pedal from Nashville to New Orleans takes place every year in the week leading up to a major diabetes conference. A handful of doctors from around the country are invited, coerced or browbeaten into taking part.

"When it was my turn it seemed entirely appropriate to raise money for diabetes research."