Manx Sport and Recreation’s Gianni Epifani cycled a staggering 771km in 24 hours last weekend, all from the ’comfort’ of his home.

The senior sports development officer undertook the gruelling challenge on his indoor trainer using the online Zwift platform with the aim of raising funds for the Isle of Man Foodbank.

The 49-year-old, who streamed parts of the challenge on his Facebook page, has raised hundreds of pounds for the cause but admits he’s not quite sure of the final figure as he was encouraging people to donate direct to the charity.

Speaking this week, Gianni said: ’The purpose of the ride was to raise awareness and money for the foodbank and I hope in that respect it was a success.

’Although I don’t know the end figure at this stage I was overwhelmed by messages from people donating £50 and some £200, while others promised to leave food at Shoprite and Tesco where the charity has drop off points.

’This is all really helpful in times like this when the foodbank is being really stretched.’

Reflecting on the ride which covered a greater distance than that between Glasgow and London, Gianni added: ’It was harder than I expected. My longest previous ride on a turbo was five hours, while the furthest I’ve done on a normal ride outside was seven hours.

’This made it an all-new experience for me. After 12 hours my feet started swelling so during toilet breaks I was putting them in buckets of cold water, which was a great help.

’During the final four hours my knee started to swell, so I had to ice it while riding. During this period my watts dropped. If everything would have gone according to plan I wanted to average 200 watts which would have got me over the 500-mile mark, but in the end I was just happy to stop after 24 hours with 479 in the bag.’

Gianni only came up with the idea of the challenge last week when he began to think about the charity’s current plight. ’The idea all come about pretty quickly. I was aware of the foodbank, but found out because of the current situation the demand for food had increased two fold to the extent there was a possibility of them running out of food which I thought would be dreadful for the families and individuals involved.’

The all-rounder was quick to thank those that supported him with the hastily-arranged fundraiser: ’I wouldn’t like to single out one person, but to everyone who donated, dropped off food and rode with me during the 24 hours, I would like to thank them for their help and support which was really appreciated. Without it I would have really struggled to last the 24 hours.’

l You can donate directly to the Isle of Man Foodbank via online banking (account 13030132), IoM Bank sort code 559100.

If you would prefer to donate cash or food please contact IoM Foodbank direct on 07624 311550.