The event was linked to the Santos Tour Down Under and benefited the Cancer Council.

The team comprised Sherri Walton, Heath Walton, Brenda Munro, Tony Connole, Hugh Paterson, Peter Smale, Darren Munro, Mark Miller, Karen Seindanis, Paul Dibbens, Judy Payne, Scott Payne and Kai Solomon.

They were sponsored by Nyrstar and apart from pushing themselves to the limit, they also took the opportunity to raise money for the Melisa Ward Foundation.

Team captain Karen Seindanis said they had trained hard before the race.

“Our team had a good mixture of cyclists, ranging from 21 to 60 years of age,” she said.

“We also had people who were new in cycling and some who were more experienced.

“We were excited and anxious about the event and our aim was that all of us completed the course with no injuries. We did it!”

The riders started the race side-by-side and six were able to finish together.

“It was a challenge to finish as a team as we rode for seven hours and there were 8000 riders

participating. But we looked after each other and it was amazing,” Ms Seindanis said.

“Some individual riders really stood out, as well, one being Kai Solomon.

“Kai completed the course in five hours and five minutes with an average speed of 27kmh.

“This is an incredible time and achievement, considering the competitors can take up to eight hours to complete the course and the international professional cyclists do it in three hours.”

The team kept the Melisa Ward Foundation close to their hearts. “We decided to put the money from the sponsorship towards this local foundation,” Ms Seindanis said.

“We all know her husband Andrew very well so we decided to honour Melisa and Bluey Scarman with a donation that will be used in our hospital and to help other families who are battling cancer.

“It was an emotional race with difficulties all the way through and thinking of those people we are doing this for made us keep going.”