England Ashes cricket fan cycles 15,500 miles from Lord’s to the Gabba for charity!

SYDNEY - England cricket fan Oli Broom has completed a remarkable cycling journey for charity from Lord’s to the Gabba in Brisbane in time for the first Ashes Test.

Broom has arrived in Brisbane after nearly 14 months of frantic pedaling after setting off on his bike from Lord’s on October 10, 2009, with 17 friends.

The 29-year-old’a friends however traveled with him only up to the English coast.

“When we reached England’s south coast, they all turned around and went home. I jumped on a ferry to France and later that evening began cycling across Europe,” the Sun quoted Broom, as saying on his website.

“Since that weekend I have pedalled through 23 countries, have had a hit of cricket in all but three of them (and including Serbia, Turkey, Sudan and Malaysia), and have so far managed to persuade kind donors to raise over 50,000 dollars for my chosen charities,” he added.

During his journey, Broom covered a massive 15,500 miles on two wheels and was today welcomed to the Gabba by his family, friends and England skipper Andrew Strauss.

Strauss presented the cyclist with a t-shirt signed by England cricketers as a reward for his mammoth efforts.

Broom said that he had embarked on the epic journey after realizing that he was not fulfilling his dream “by sitting behind a desk every day in London”. (ANI)