KIND-hearted Rotarians joined in with a national effort to raise awareness of prostate cancer.

Over 50 people took part in a gruelling 12-hour cycle challenge, held by the Basingstoke Loddon Rotary Club, to raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK.

The event, which took place at Hampshire Court Hotel in Chineham was part of a national rotary initiative – the Rotary Ride.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common male-specific illnesses in the country and the second biggest killer after lung cancer, claiming the lives of 30 men in the UK each day.

And the club managed to pull in an impressive £562 for the charity after riding 190 miles on a static bike, with everyone taking part cycling for at least 10 minutes.

Anyone riding on the day was asked to make a minimum contribution of £5.

Mother-of-one Susan Powell, a rotary member who organised the event, told The Extra: “I am really proud of everybody. It is a real challenge and some people did 10 minutes, some 20 and some really pursued with 30 minutes.

“We had absolutely no idea how many miles we were going to be able to do. We were determined that there would be a bike spinning every minute for those 12 hours.”

The 53-year-old, who lives in Fennel Close, Chineham, added: “I didn’t realise how prevalent prostate cancer was until I got the statistics but also I didn’t realise how many families it is already touching until we got people doing this.

“It is something we all need to do – raise awareness – and get guys to check themselves and get tests done. I hope we have done that.”