Dad roller skates 878 miles for his dear friend Ziby

Ross Pollock, 43, smashed his target by completing his challenge three days ahead of his 89-day  schedule before toasting his friend Ziby Jablonski, whose family he was raising money for. 

The popular coach of the all-conquering Lee Rangers died aged just 38 on Saturday, June 15 after a short battle with cancer '“ with him leaving behind two children and a wife, Alex.

Ross decided to take on the gruelling challenge on June 2 which resulted in him losing four stone, nearly breaking his leg after a crash, being chased by dogs and having to buy a new wardrobe after his suit and shirts no longer fitted him.

His dedication saw him continue his roller-skating while on holiday in a mountainous region of Moldova before returning to the UK in one of the hottest summers on record to continue his efforts.

Ross, who used to roller-skate in his youth when doing a paper round, did the final two miles of his journey yesterday evening before finishing outside Lee Kebab Shop.

With sweat pouring down his face, he said: '˜It feels surreal to have finally finished it. I did it for our friend Ziby '“ I hope I made him and his family proud. Hopefully we will raise our target of £2,000.'

He continued: '˜When we heard Ziby was diagnosed with terminal cancer we all decided to do various things and I personally decided to take on this challenge to support Ziby and his family.

'˜He was a really nice bloke and family man. Unfortunately it's just one of life's tragedies.'

Speaking of the challenge, he added: '˜Getting up every day at 5am has been tough and I've had to lean on my wife a lot. I started off doing seven miles a day and quickly realised I wasn't gong to finish it in time and had to double the distance and do 14 miles a day.

'˜There's been some difficult moment likes when I thought I had broken my leg and had to go to hospital when I crashed.'

To donate go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ross-pollock