THE charity cyclist have completed their challenge of cycling Italy from end-to-end, but the fund-raising goes on for a little while yet.

The team have set themselves the target of raising £10,000 for the nominated charities, Jersey Autism and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

The  riders, Andrew Malins, Gary Bowman and Paul Taylor, reached the end of their cycle challenge when they arrived at Catania on Day 20 of their incredible 1222-mile journey through Italy on October 15.

"Following our departure from Jersey on Friday 24th September, we completed our charity cycle ride in Catania in Sicily on Friday 15th October, as planned. In all, we cycled 1222 miles over a period of 20 consecutive days.

"It was an amazing three weeks, that we will never forget. We faced many challenges along the way including many hill climbs, navigational anomalies, torrential downpours and flooding and an accident, which saw Andrew go to hospital with a damaged shoulder and severe abrasions. We enjoyed fantastic scenery, met many wonderful people, who could not do enough to help us and most importantly, raised a fantastic amount for the supported charities, Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Autism Jersey.

"So far, we have raised over £8,000 in total and we are confident that with donations still coming in, we will reach £10,000. It makes all the rough-living and challenges of the past three weeks so worthwhile. 

"Andrew, Paul and I, would like to send a big thank-you to all of you who have supported us and donated to the charities."

Thanks to all for following their progress via this website. We’ll keep updating it with more pictures once the riders get home and track the progress of the fund-raising.