HEART transplant hero Simon Ripley has returned home to the North-East as a European cycling champion - despite crashing into a ditch during the race.

Simon, 32, of Darlington, was competing for Great Britain in the European Heart and Lung Transplant Games in Helsinki, Finland, and was victorious in the 20k cycling road race.

But he had to survive a near-disaster when he was caught up in a crash which saw him and three fellow competitors end up in a gravel ditch.

"One of the bikes caught another rider's wheel and there was a knock-on effect which ended up with me in the ditch too," said Simon.

"I had a bit of damage to my back wheel but, luckily, I was able to carry on and win the race.

"I'm really proud to have won. I thought I'd be in the first three but I was able to use all my experience and to come back home with gold is epic."

The father-of-two, who lives in Foxglove Close, also picked up a silver medal in the 4k cross country event.

He had also been due to compete in the shot put, 1500 metres and 100 metres relay but those events were cancelled due to torrential rain in Helsinki.

Simon, who had a life-saving heart transplant in May 2008, recovered to become a double gold medallist in the British Transplant Games in 2012.

Before his operation at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle, he was unable to even walk for five minutes without feeling exhausted and was too tired to even play with his two-year-old son Dylan. Without the transplant, doctors said he would not have survived the year.

After flying back from Helsinki, Simon was straight back to work at Halfords Auto Centre in Darlington this week but he will be back in action at the 2016 British Transplant Games in Liverpool, starting on July 28.