A MAN who set off on a 6,500 mile world record attempt on a bicycle has finished, 49 days later.

James Windross, 31, of Redcar set off on a mission to cover the distance from Argentina to Columbia on his own.

The current Guiness World Record for the mission stands at 40 days.

He was hoping to beat the world record, and raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Mr Windross, whose father died from oesophageal cancer in 2011, suffered two crashes and had to have a new bicycle flown to him.

He spent a total of 43 days riding across five countries, which is the equivalent of a ride time of 17 days and eight hours.

Jaelithe Leigh-Brown of Cancer Research UK said: “James is amazing.

"His will and determination to carry on was inspirational.

“Without people like James helping to fund our research, we wouldn’t have made such enormous progress in the fight against cancer.”

Mr Windross is still reportedly raising money for Cancer Research UK.