Heartfelt challenge sees man cycle 810 miles and then complete London Marathon in brother's memory

The self-employed joiner undertook the two challenges to raise money in memory of his brother James, who was just 30 when he died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome in April 2021.

SADs is the term used when a person dies suddenly, and unexpectedly, when the heart stops pumping blood, otherwise known as a cardiac arrest.

Olie wanted to raise money for the Cardiac Risk in the Young organisation, but also to raise awareness of SADS, which claims the lives of about 12 young people in the UK each week.

He said: “James’s death was a huge shock and I am still coming to terms with it and it doesn’t feel real.

“The bike ride and the marathon was a massive challenge really, but it was something I needed to do.”

The bike ride was done over a number of days, with Olie cycling between nine and 11 hours a day, while Olie completed the marathon in five hours and 23 minutes.

So far, his challenge has raised more than £5,300, and has contributed to a team fundraising effort that currently stands at more than £13,000.

Some of the money will go to CRY's core costs, such as funding life-saving work such as research, awareness raising, and support for bereaved families.

Much of the money will be ringfenced to fund a whole weekend of free cardiac screenings in Nottingham to enable the screening of about 200 local young people for potentially fatal underlying cardiac conditions.

The screenings will be available for anyone to sign up to for free via the CRY website when the event has been funded and the date confirmed.

Sophie Turner, James’s partner, said: “James’s death was, and still is, hard to process. There were no warning signs, he didn’t drink or smoke.

“James would have thought that challenges like this would have been horrendous and that Olie was a little bit bonkers.”

To read more about the fundraising, or to donate, people should visit justgiving.com/fundraising/oliesheppard