SUPER fit cyclists pedalled their way from Bournemouth along the south coast to raise money for Asthma UK at the weekend.

More than 250 people started the 140-mile bike ride from Kings Park on Saturday morning, winding their way down to Bournemouth Pier and across to Boscombe before heading up to Lyndhurst in the New Forest.View all our pictures here

From there, the route took them towards an overnight stop at East Meon before the group tackled the South Downs and onto Chichester, Littlehampton and Worthing before they arrived at their final destination in Brighton on Sunday afternoon.

Many of the cyclists were from Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, although some had come from as far afield as Glasgow for the event.

Bournemouth woman Samantha Nair, who has asthma, was one of the people taking part.

She was inspired to take on the challenge after discovering exercise helped to alleviate her symptoms.

Samantha said: “As a teen I had two week-long stints in hospital because of my asthma and it really impacted on what activities I could do when I was younger.

“After I had a bad attack in February 2009 my medication was changed, which has helped me immensely and my asthma is now under control.

“I really enjoy cycling and it helps my asthma because when I exercise more I find that I need to use my inhalers less often.”

She added: “When I have approached people for sponsorship, they often say, ‘You’ve got an inhaler, why do I need to give you money to help fund research into asthma?’.

“Asthma isn’t understood by most people and doesn’t get the recognition it should considering that it kills one person every seven hours in the UK and impacts on people’s lives on a daily basis.”

The charity is hoping to raise £75,000 to fund research and services into the condition, which affects millions of the people across the UK.

Helen Olszowska, head of events at Asthma UK, said: “There were a real mix of people taking part in this event.

“This is our third year and to think we started with just 96 riders then, it’s a real achievement for us to see 250 taking part this year.”