A YEAR after suffering a heart attack, a 44-year-old man has completed a charity bike ride in aid of the hospital ward that nursed him back to health.

Truck driver Kevin Bostock, from Trimdon Village, rode the 140-mile coast-to-coast bike ride from Whitehaven to Sunderland earlier this month.

Despite carrying a knee injury for most of the journey, the father-of-two completed the challenge in two-and-a-half days.

Money raised from the event will be donated to the South Cleveland Heart Fund, at James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where he was treated.

Since suffering a heart attack last May, Mr Bostock has swapped his unhealthy lifestyle and fatty diet for regular early morning bike rides and healthier options from the kitchen.

He said: "The heart attack was a real fright, but probably the best thing that could have happened to me. It has really kickstarted a new lifestyle.

"I've had £600 pledged for the fund, I just need to get the rest of the money in so I can present it to the doctors who helped me."