Smooth ride by Lifecycle into Syria

The Lifecycle challenge team yesterday crossed over the Turkish border into Syria.

The cyclists covered around 114 kilometres from Turkey and crossed to Syria at around midday. The team spent around two hours at the border but crossed without any problems.

Everything went smoothly, said Gilbert Vasallo from the organisation's logistics office.

The frontier was just over half way through the day's route, and at the border the cyclists had to ride through four kilometres of "no man's land" before they could actually say they were in Syria.

The Turkish police escorted the riders to the border and, once in Syria, the local police took over and provided an escort for the rest of the day's route.

Today, the team will ride from Aleppo down to Homs, a much longer route of around 218 kilometres.

The eleventh annual Lifecycle challenge is raising funds to help the Renal Unit at Mater Dei Hospital and renal patients, with a ride of more than 2,000 kilometres from Istanbul to Damascus in Syria.