Some of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) crew recently swapped their flight suits for cycling shorts and completed an epic challenge of endurance, cycling from the helipad at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen to the helipad at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

The Helipad to Helipad Cycle Challenge saw the crews complete an astounding 110 miles over two days.

The team decided to take on this challenge to raise vital funds after witnessing the massive impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the charity’s fundraising and subsequent downturn in income.

All novice cyclists, they managed to raise a phenomenal £21,833, which will fund almost four full days of the service.

The Helipad to Helipad Cycle Challenge was a far cry from the crew’s typical day-to-day duties.

While on shift duty, the team are tasked on average twice a day to life-threatening incidents all across Northern Ireland in city and rural localities alike.

The highly-skilled doctors and paramedics are trained to preform critical life-saving procedures at the scene of an incident to save lives, brains and limbs.

Since the inception of the service in July, 2017, the service has been tasked more than 2,430 times.

Kerry Anderson, Head of Fundraising at Air Ambulance NI, said: “We are extremely grateful to the HEMS team for what they do for patients every day, and now for taking on this challenge to help raise vital funds for the charity.

“Many of the team were completely new to cycling before this, so we know it wasn’t to be an easy task.

‘Very proud’

“We’re very proud of the whole team for completing this terrific and tough challenge, and we’re extremely humbled by their fundraising success and the support they’ve received.”

The charity Air Ambulance Northern Ireland, in partnership with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, provides the HEMS for Northern Ireland.

The service brings urgent medical assistance to anywhere in the province, operating seven days a week for 12 hours per day.

It can get to anywhere in Northern Ireland in approximately 25 minutes.

This year, the service experienced its busiest month, to date, being called out on 78 occasions during July.

Air Ambulance NI needs to raise £2 million each year to maintain this service, so public donations are crucial.

You can support the charity by hosting your own event, or by becoming a Club AANI member through a monthly or annual subscription.

For further information, see www.airambulanceni.org, contact Air Ambulance NI by email at info@airambulanceni.org, or call 028 9262 2677.