A TEN-YEAR-OLD girl from Inwardleigh completed a 200-mile cycle challenge during her summer holiday to raise money for the Devon Air Ambulance.

Coral Vallance spent her six-week holiday cycling in the area around her home, and even along the Granite Way, raising over £700 for the air ambulance charity.

The mission, Coral and her mum Lita explained, was born with the help of Coral’s dad who initially challenged her to cycle 100 miles, but Coral decided to double the number of miles and create a fundraiser.

“I often see the ambulances in the sky so I thought it would be nice to help them,” added Coral.

To complete the challenge before she returned to school, Coral cycled an average of six miles every day.

A keen cyclist, she did manage 15 miles on one day and successfully tackled a particularly steep section of road which soon earned the nickname of the “Hill of Doom.”

During her cycle challenge, Coral also got to visit the air ambulance crew where she was gifted with a T-shirt and goodie bag in recognition of her support and hard work.

Her hard work paid off and Coral completed the challenge before the new school year started. She added that she was “very proud” of completing the challenge and was especially excited when the watch she was using to track her distance told her she had reached her target.

Coral and Lita have thanked everyone who donated – not just friends and family but strangers too who had seen Coral’s fundraiser shared on Facebook.

At the time of writing, Coral had raised £715 which is more than double the original target of £300. However the GoFundMe page remains open for anyone who still wishes to donate.

Devon Air Ambulance Trust was established in 1992 and is the charity that raises the funds to keep Devon’s two air ambulances flying so that paramedics and doctors can reach patients who may be in places inaccessible to a land ambulance.

In March 2020 the charity also acquired two rapid response, critical care cars for its fleet of emergency vehicles.

Since Devon Air Ambulance was established over 30 years ago, the charity’s two helicopters have responded to over 32,000 incidents and the charity’s first response cars have been called out to over 2,000 emergencies.

To donate to Coral’s fundraiser, visit www.gofundme.com/f/200-mile-bike-ride-for-devon-air-ambulance