CHANDLER'S Ford insurance worker Steve Jones netted more than £4,700 for charity after successfully completing the uphill challenge of a lifetime.

Last month the Daily Echo told how the 45-year-old, of Highclere Way, was getting on his bike in a four-day bid to tackle the marathon 190-kilometre route across the Sierra Nevada mountains in southern Spain

Steve, who is chief claims controller for Eastleigh company Fortis Insurance Ltd, thought it would be an ideal way of giving his father Jack - a former successful track and road cyclist who was suffering from cancer - something to think about.

Sadly, Jack died just three weeks before the Spanish adventure, but Steve decided to maintain his promise to Mencap and undertake the ride in memory of his dad.

Steve - who had never been a serious cyclist until he started training in May- was confident of netting more than £3,500 with the help of Fortis and other business colleagues but his Spanish moneyspinner actually landed £4,738 for Mencap.