Fifteen cyclists, led by an Oakworth medical student Roland Partridge, have completed the first circuit of the Baltic sea by bike - and raised £5,000 for charity.

Starting and finishing in Hamburg, Germany, the students, most of them medics, finished the 3,200-mile trek in 13 days.

The group also included Ian Wellock, of Newsholme, Oakworth, who is a student with Roland at Edinburgh University.

The bikers rode in relay through eight countries - Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark - to raise cash for the British Heart Foundation.

Team member and medical student, Geraldine Nosowska, of Rugby, said plans to ride through the day and night were soon abandoned after witnessing a fatal crash.

A driver, travelling at high speed, overtook the group and crashed into a tree.

"We were deeply shocked and it was decided to abandon the 24-hour shifts and to cycle only between dawn and dusk," she said. The group split into two teams, each covering 200 miles in relay. "In an average 17-hour shift, a team could cover up to 300 miles," she added.

They encountered a number of other setbacks, including Roland losing his bag and documents, which involved a 200-mile journey to Dusseldorf to get replacements.

And jobs-worth border controllers on the Lithuanian-Latvian border spent 29 hours arguing over paperwork relating to one of the team's two back-up Land Rovers.

"Owing to the delay and the expectation of further bureaucratic hold-ups, it was decided not to travel through Russia as planned, but to take the ferry from Tallinn in Estonia across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki," said Geraldine.

Once in Finland, with the beautiful Northern white lights as an inspiration, the cyclists quickly made up for lost time.

During one 24-hour shift, a team of four cyclists, with two support crew, covered 417 miles and cyclist Neil Tucker, a graduate of Sheffield University, covered 200 miles on the final leg.

Anyone who wants to support the Baltic Cycle Challenge can take a cheque, made payable to the British Heart Foundation, to the T&A office in North Street, Keighley.

Alternatively they can contact Roland's family at 18 New House Farm, Sykes Lane, Oakworth, BD22 7JW, or send an email to rolandpartridge@hotmail.com