A Norwich man took to his bike yesterday to help raise funds for charity just weeks after his mum passed away.

Jim Wynn, from Elizabeth Fry Road, set off with his older brother Mark to complete the Norwich 100 bike ride barely a month after their mother Brenda died suddenly of a heart related illness.

Jim said the pair both decided they wanted to do something positive following their mother's death and opted for the bike ride because it raises funds for the British Heart Foundation, while they had also recently got new bikes through the Cycle to Work Scheme.

The 32-year-old, who has also had heart surgery in the past 12 months, was one of more than 3,500 people taking part in this years Norwich 100/50 bike ride.

Starting from the cathedral participants in the longer ride head up to Reepham, Sheringham, Horsey Mill and Coltishall before heading back to the city, while those opting for the shorter route head out to Melton Constable before pedalling back via Blickling Hall and Coltishall.

The father-of-two, who completed the ride in a better-than-expected 6hrs 50mins, said: 'It started off around four weeks ago, we both work at Britvic and had got bikes at same time from the Cycle to Work scheme. Sadly mum had just passed away on May 2 with a heart related illness and we decided we wanted to try and raise some money and this bike ride came up.

'Mum's death came as a complete shock and it's taken us a long time to get our heads around it. This has given us something to focus on.

'It was a way for me to give something back,' he added. 'We were both complete amateurs and I haven't cycled since I was really young and we only had three weeks to prepare for it.

'But we were over-the-moon with our time, we estimated we would do it in eight hours, so for us it was incredible. I really enjoyed it, the atmosphere was brilliant.'

Between them and their Mark's wife Jane, and her brother, who also took part the group have raised around �1300 including �400 each from colleageus at Britvic, and the Heinz factory at Worstead, near North Walsham, where Jane works.

'It was fantastic to raise that much money for a charity that's so close to our hearts,' he added.

Tayce Blest, event organiser for the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: 'It's been fabulous this year. The whole day has gone really well. Last year we raised in the region of �74,000 and I would like to think that this year we could raise �90,000.

'A range of people take part, from individuals to companies, but they all want to raise money for the BHF.'

And she said that organisers were hoping to increase the numbers taking part to 5,000 next year.

'I'm looking to get us up to 5,000 next year, and then we may be able to raise in excess of �100,000.'

John Lister, events organiser for Bike Events, said: 'The weather has been great, and we have had a broad cross section of people taking part. The majority of people are local, but we've had people from further afield and it's getting more popular all of the time.'