TWELVE cyclists – with an average age of 65 – have completed a 152-mile charity bike ride, raising over £5,000 for charity.

The members of the Rotary Club of Darlington have just returned from the ride, which took them on some of the steepest routes in the north.

Their route took them, along with their support crew of two, from Barrow in Furness, over the hills to Kendal, then on to Reeth via Tan Hill.

They then pedalled into North Yorkshire and finally, to the finish line in Darlington.

Spokesman, team organiser, and trainer Nigel Little said “The riders have an average age of 65 and I tell them every year that this time it will all be relatively flat, but they were seriously cheesed off that they had to climb up to over 600ft in the first two miles!"

Over the next three days they ascended to 6,000ft on some of the steepest cycling in the North of England.

This year the sponsorship raised by the 12 riders came to £5,216.

To date they have done seven rides, have travelled over 1,323 miles, climbed to over 10,000ft and including this year’s money have raised a total of £52,524.

The money goes to support Rotary Local and International projects.

This year the main sponsor was Darlington car dealership SG Petch, which supplied a liveried support van, fuel and a donation.

Rotarian Ken Wiper was presented with the Dennis Goodes trophy at the end of the ride for his efforts on the bike ride, which he completed despite being injured.