TENS of thousands of pounds have been raised for radiotherapy equipment by a group of intrepid cyclists.

The team of 58 riders, made up of medical staff, patients and family members from Bournemouth, Poole and Southampton, cycled from London to Paris in 24 hours, with some working in a relay and others taking on the full 300km.

Taking place in aid of the PLANETS appeal, the event raised more than £65,000 which will go towards the cost of running a new ‘Mobetron’ device at Southampton Hospital.

The equipment, used to deliver IORT radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer, will benefit patients from the wider Dorset and Hampshire area.

Appeal co-founder and associate medical director Neil Pearce said: “People really pushed their bodies to the absolute limit and dug deep together in an amazing victory for team spirit.

“This whole experience has been incredibly uplifting and inspiring to be part of - all of us within the PLANETS and Southampton hospital charity team have been blown away by the level of support we have received and the amount of doctors, nurses and patients that were willing to get involved.

“This event has provided enough money to pay for the next six month instalment of the lease/purchase of our intraoperative radiotherapy machine.”

The Mobetron at Southampton is the first of its kind in the UK and began operating this month.

IORT is an intensive form of targeted radiation given at the time of surgery for a wide variety of advanced cancers that are difficult to remove and treat.

Using the Mobetron, the radiation is given by high energy electron beams delivered with precision to a very specific location inside the body immediately after a cancer has been removed.

This enables surgeons and oncology specialists to deliver much higher doses of the anti-cancer treatment to areas at a high risk of recurrence without causing damage to surrounding healthy tissue and organs seen with conventional external beam radiotherapy.

Using conventional radiotherapy, which involves setting up a machine manually to target the area of a tumour rather than the cancer alone, doctors have to limit doses to protect surrounding structures.

The system, tested by experts at the National Physical Laboratory in London before being transported to Southampton, will be used initially to treat patients with pancreatic, neuroendocrine, colorectal and bladder tumours.

It needs £500,000 over three years to keep the system going, of which more than £400,000 has been raised.

To donate visit lp24.org.