A MAN has completed a 31,500km cycle from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

James Benson-King, from Corfe Mullen, began the mammoth challenge in August 2022 in Alaska, aiming to raise awareness for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

He finished the ride in February this year, arriving at his end point in Argentina more than 550 days after setting off. 

The 31-year-old underwent operations aged eight and 16 for a heart problem, and sadly lost a friend at university to an undiagnosed heart condition.

Since, he has been raising money for CRY, which carries out research and heart screening for young people.

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James said coming to the finish was ‘a little bit overwhelming’ but he was proud to have finished ‘a trip of a lifetime’.

James saw lots of highs as well as some lows throughout his challenge.

He said he loved Mexico, with one of the highlights coming after he met a family up a mountain in the country.

“A family met me up a mountain, wanted to come over, have a picture and they invited me to come and stay with them,” James said.

“It was the day before, he wanted to know what time I was going to be there, which is really hard to say the exact time, but I said I will definitely be at this point at 4pm.

“I made sure I got there early. And he'd got five cyclists together to come and cycle with me the final 20km into the city with a police escort, to protect us along the road. We got in, had dinner together, he invited friends round and then asked me if the next day I would speak at the school.

“So I spoke to a school of 2,000 kids in Spanish and then they got to ask questions in English.”

Bournemouth Echo: James at the start line in Alaska.

Days in the mountains in Peru and a volcano in Guatemala were other highlights, while riding 500 miles using just one leg after his crank broke in the Mexican desert was one of the toughest stretches.

“Peru was also incredibly tough, just because every day you're gaining about 1,500 to 2,000 meters of elevation, climb just straight uphill and that takes about six or seven hours,” James said.

“Then you descend for an hour and then camp at the bottom and then the next day it's the same again.

“You're just up and down the Andes and because of the elevation, you're at 3,500 metres, climbing up to 5000 metres, which I think is almost as high as Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe.”

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To date, James has raised just under £10,000 for CRY, and he hopes to reach the milestone so he can fund four days of screening for up to 1,000 young people each day.

Next, he hopes to set up a cycle tours business in the UK and Europe, and has his sights set on becoming the first person to cycle across the continent of Antarctica.

To donate, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/alaska-to-argentina-ice-to-ice-challenge