THE Pembs2Paris cyclists have announced the total amount raised by their epic challenge, and it is WHOPPING.

The 14 participants were cheered off from outside County Hall in Haverfordwest on September 6, arriving at the Eiffel Tower 540 miles and six days later.

At a Black Tie presentation evening held at the Allt-yr-Afon in Wolfscastle on Friday (October 9), the fundraisers revealed their endeavour amassed an incredible £58,000.

The amount will be split between local charities Pembrokeshire Friends of Prostate Cancer, Pembrokeshire Autism Society and Pembrokeshire's Riding for the Disabled facilities.

Pembs2Paris organiser Graham Williams is over the moon at the event’s success.

“It’s awesome. It’s just absolutely awesome,” he said. “The help we had and the effort we all put in was huge. Sitting on a bike for 100 miles a day is a really tough thing to do. There were lots of personal goals smashed during the course of the challenge, and it feels great to have raised so much for three very worthwhile charities. I would like to thank every individual, organisation and business who supported this venture.”

Graham also stressed the final amount raised would have been around £15,000 less had the riders not funded the costs of the challenge themselves.

“That’s part of the reason the amount we raised was so high,” he added.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Graham is already planning another event for 2017.

“We’d like to end up at County Hall next time,” he said. “We’re all family-orientated, and it would be great for all our families to be there when we finish. So we’re going to cycle down from Scotland, but throw in a three peaks challenge on the way and tackle Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon. We’ve already got a lot of people interested.”

If this year’s success was anything to go by, local charities can look forward to another massive funding boost in 2017.