Help for Heroes is confident that it has raised more than £1m from the Hero Ride across London yesterday, and the hundreds of smaller sponsored cycle rides around the UK and across Europe that led up to the main event.

The 1,300 riders met in Blackheath in the morning, before cycling to the end in front of Buckingham Palace at around 2.15pm.  They were led across the finish line by wounded servicemen and veterans from the UK, USA and Canada.
Hundreds of self-organised sponsored rides took place in the lead-up to the Hero Ride.

The farthest distance travelled into London was from Edinburgh. A team including 15 wounded, injured and sick servicemen and veterans cycled 423 miles into London from Edinburgh in six days to join the final ride.

The 2013 Big Battlefield Bike Ride saw 300 cyclists ride more than 350 miles from Paris to London. Waved off by the Duchess of Cornwall at Les Invalides last Tuesday, the large group of fundraisers from the UK, US and Canada battled through icy rain, steep inclines and early starts to make their way to the finish line at Horse Guards Parade.

Dawn Raid challenge cyclists left the Help for Heroes Recovery Centre, Tedworth House in the early hours of Sunday morning and pedalled 90 miles through the night to meet the other cyclists at Blackheath for the final leg.

Help for Heroes described the ride as “the biggest cycling demonstration of national support for the wounded this country has ever seen”.  It invited members of the public to support the fundraisers by texting a short-code to donate £5.

The charity said it would not know until later in the week how much it had raised from the event.