Denmead boy, 11, raises more than £2,000 for cancer charity while taking on 100 mile cycling challenge

Finley Rollinson, 11, has cycled through Hayling Island, Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham, Southwick and the Waterlooville area and is set to take on the final leg of his mission this Saturday to support Cancer Research UK.

Following news of his aunt’s cancer diagnosis this year, and wanting to help the charity after one of his teachers was also diagnosed with the disease, Finley took it upon himself to cycle 100 miles in seven rides.

Joined by his step-dad, Ben, the duo have so far completed 78 miles of the challenge since starting in April.

Their aim was to cycle at least 14 and a half miles for each leg of the journey but racked up enough miles to ‘hopefully’ complete the challenge on the sixth ride.

Finley set himself the target to raise £500 for charity, but he has smashed his goal - raising £2,200 on his JustGiving page.

He said: ‘It seemed lots of people around me were being diagnosed with cancer so I wanted to do something instead of just worrying about them. Something helpful and something that would distract me. It’s been a bit hard but it feels rewarding to be doing something to help them.’

Ben said: ‘He liked the idea of doing the South Downs Way but because of the logistics involved in it it's quite a hard ride to do.

‘We thought, why don't we do the equivalent length, which is about 100 miles and just finish it on the South Downs Way.’

The sporty pair often take their dogs to exercise in the woods while they cycle so this was the perfect challenge.

However, neither of them expected to raise such a huge sum of cash to support the charity.

Ben said: ‘A lot of people who have donated are friends of his aunt.

‘But quite a few of them we don't know.

‘Quite a few of our friends have donated and family members and even a couple of my customers.

‘Finley has always been a very compassionate young boy but we do feel very proud of him for wanting to do something and actually getting up and doing it.’