Royal Navy pair honour late friend and comrade with one million metre cycle and raise nearly £3,000

Kerry Packer (KP) and Michael ‘Doc’ Cox mounted WattBikes, riding 1000,501 metres in just 34 hours on static bicycles, starting at 8am on Friday and finishing at 10am on Sunday, in memory of their friend and former comrade, CPO Graham ‘Sid’ Street, who they lost to cancer.

The pair completed the challenge at Portsmouth Rugby Club – where Sid was a player and coach – not only to honour their friend, but to raise money for Charlie’s Beach Hut, of which he was a ‘proud’ patron. The pair raised a total of £2,800 for the Portsmouth-based charity.

Portsmouth North MP, Penny Mordaunt, paid a visit to the club on Friday morning to wish the riders well, even joining them on a spare static bike for part of the challenge.

Mike said: ‘We got through it, with far more sores than I envisaged. I’ve done a couple of long range cycling challenges before, but nothing of this magnitude. Being on a static bike, for that amount of time was interesting!’

‘I was chuffed to bits. The original target was £1,000, which I thought would be brilliant,’ added KP.

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After completing their goal, as former Navy rugby players and Command Field Gunners, the riders donned their Royal Navy uniforms and laid a wreath on the main pitch at 11am for Remembrance Sunday.

KP, who created and coined the event the ‘M6/50 Challenge’ hopes to turn it into an annual fundraiser, inviting other rugby clubs from the local area to join them.

‘They can use it as vehicle to raise funds for whatever challenge they want, the key thing is keeping his memory alive,’ said KP.

Mike added: ‘The overarching thing is we’re all doing it under the umbrella of M6/50 so he’s got some legacy.’

Also at the finish line to cheer the pair on was Alison Street, Sid’s wife, and his son’s Aaron and Bradley.

Mike said: ‘She was there when we crossed the line. It really was emotional and I don’t get emotional. It got to the heart.’

‘It was nice to have Alison there as a part of it, it was like Sid was in the building,’ added KP.