Two ambulance staff members from east London want cash after a gruelling 100-mile cycle ride.

Paramedic Gary Cohen, from Poplar ambulance station, and HR Manager Greg Masters, from Silvertown, took part in a charity run earlier this month and raised £1,000 for the Maypole Project.

They are now appealing for more donations on the ‘Just Giving’ website.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing. Greg lost half-an-hour when his bike broke down.

“I had a problem with my bike gears and had to stop for repairs,” he recalled.

“The most I had managed during training was 62 miles, so I knew it was going to be a real challenge.”

He still managed to complete the run in 8 hours 28 minutes and would have beaten Boris Johnson by four minutes if he hadn’t been forced to stop.

The two peddled their way from the Olympic Park with 16,000 other riders and followed a similar route to the London 2012 road cycling races, finishing at The Mall.

Gary completed the 100 miles through London and Surrey in 6 hours 16 minutes, but admits he also found it hard.