A determined young girl from the Okehampton area has completed a 100-mile coast-to-coast cycle ride to raise funds for a cancer charity in solidarity with a pal with cancer.

Coral Vallance, 11, from Inwardleigh, marshalled a team including sister Ionie, 14, and dad Andy to ride from Ilfracombe, north Devon to Plymouth via Okehampton.

Also taking part were Coral and Ionie’s cousins Maisie and Sofia Radford, from Okehampton, and their dad Gary. The ride took place on August 31 and September 1.

They were raising funds for children’s cancer charity Abby’s Heroes, in solidarity with friend Nevah Richards, 14, who is receiving treatment for a rare form of bone cancer.

Nevah and her family lived in Okehampton before moving to Dorset and are friends with the Vallance family.

Coral’s challenge comes on the back of her charity efforts in August last year, when she raised hundreds of pounds for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust cycling 200 miles through the month.

She completed that challenge cycling around the lanes near Inwardleigh in stages. She admitted this latest challenge was a step up, as it was completed over two days – with a stop off in Okehampton overnight.

Coral said: “This was much more intense. It was 100 miles and there were a lot of hills. It was quite hard. We did 50 miles one day and 50 miles the next. I didn’t think I was going to give up but there was a really hard hill at Hatherleigh Moor.”

She added: “Nevah, my sister’s friend was diagnosed with cancer just over a year ago. She has gone through some horrible treatment and is still going through it. We really wanted to raise some money and we asked her family what charity they wanted us to support, and they suggested Abby’s Heroes.

Mum Lita said: “I’m very proud of Coral, absolutely. It was a tough old ride. The weather on the Saturday was quite kind but when they set off on the Sunday morning, it was tipping it down for the first two hours, then it got better.”

She explained that they’d all taken part in the danceathon organised by Okehampton’s Footsteps School of Dance earlier this year.

“We wanted to support the family, the whole family are our friends. I’m friends with Nevah’s mum and we keep in regular contact. Nevah is a very special girl.”

The Just Giving fundraising page is still open. Search for ‘Corals fundraiser for Abby’s Heroes’ or ‘Lita Vallance’.