Chichester karate teacher's nine-hour 'cycle to Mordor' for charity

Twenty-six-year-old Matt Thomas from Whyke Marsh undertook the challenge of cycling throughout the notoriously lengthy Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Along with friends Greg Jansz and Connor Cody, Matt set up a video conference call to allow donators to watch the stationary cycle take place.

Matt said: "I didn't expect it to that to be honest. I started with a target of £300 and I thought that would be great. I decided to cycle for the length of the Lord of the Rings. It was a stupid idea but it really took off and we reached £1,000 when there was about 40 minutes to the end.

"There were lots of people supporting us on Zoom and when we finished I said thank you to the two boys who did it with me. It was quite emotional."

The cycle began at 12pm yesterday (Sunday, May 3) and ended at 9.30pm leaving Matt's legs feeling 'not so great' but said the feat was worth it for two reasons: "One is that we were able to raise that money for hospitals with everything that is going on.

"Two - just the support we received. It was overwhelming. People are so generous.

"I want to say a hug thank you to everyone that is working in a hospital and everyone that is putting time in and thank you to everyone for being so generous."

At the time of writing £1,245 has been raised for the charity.

John Price, community and corporate fundraising officer for Love Your Hospital, the recipient of the fundraising efforts, said: “By his own admission, Matt is a novice cyclist so the fact he managed to stay in the saddle while watching hobbits, elves, wizards, dwarfs and orcs for more than nine hours is tremendously impressive.

"Also, Matt’s mum is our Head of Nursing for the Medicine Division at Western Sussex NHS Foundation Trust which makes this fundraising challenge even more poignant.

"A huge thank you to Matt for being slightly bonkers and raising such vital funds for our Hospital Heroes COVID19 Appeal. It really will make a huge difference to the health and wellbeing of staff on the frontline.”

You can donate here: One Cycle To Rule Them All