HEALTH manager Carole Wood dodged the bullets but battled with the elements in a sponsored cycle marathon through Israel.

There was no free wheeling for Carole as the start of the 250-mile British Heart Foundation event was switched away from the North of the country - the scene of recent bloody conflict with Lebanese factions - to Jerusalem.

That put the Burnley General Hospital baby care expert on route for some of the toughest terrain in Israel - taking in two mountain ranges and the Negev desert before finishing at the Red Sea.

The dash through the dunes became a torturous five-day ordeal for the 58 sponsored riders as a heatwave sent temperatures soaring by 30 degrees to a blazing 120F in the mid-day sun.

But as others fell by the wayside, Carole came through her Holy Land ordeal completing the course and happy to have raised £1,500 sponsorship cash for heart research.

"It was really hard, an incredible experience, but something I would not have missed for anything," she said.

Throughout her marathon, Carole - who decide to take part after her mother died from heart disease last year - was "shadowed" by sponsored riders on exercise bikes at Burnley General Hospital.

Colleagues, voluntary groups, schools and even Burnley MP Peter Pike hopped on to raise extra cash for heart care equipment at the hospital - their efforts being matched pound for pound by the health trust.

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