A FUNDRAISER burnt off thousands of calories while raising funds for charity when he cycled 120 miles dressed as Santa.

Stuart Barnes, director of Zac's Youth Bars, cycled the equivalent distance of London to Birmingham while dressed in a full Santa suit at David Lloyd Bolton, which took him 12 hours.

The bike ride raised £264 and was the 19th of 50 challenges Mr Barnes aims to complete by his 50th birthday in November 2016.

He hopes to raise £50,000 in total.

All money raised in the challenges will help pay for the running costs at Zac’s Youth Bars, a youth project based in Farnworth, Kearsley and Little Lever, which works with about 1,600 youngsters.

After breaking his hip just about he was about to complete the Greater Manchester Half Marathon in April, Mr Barnes could be forgiven for feeling a little sceptic about pushing his fitness levels to the limit again.

But in typically resilient style, he passed his latest test with flying colours.

He had originally intended to do 100 miles, but pushed it to 120 miles on the day.

Mr Barnes, aged 48, said: "The bike ride was actually easier than I expected. I kept going no problem.

"It was more important for me to finish it than to do it at any great speed.

"I was very hot while doing it. The worst bit was the beard - when you cycle 120 miles, it does cause a lot of irritation.

"Psychologically, it felt absolutely brilliant to finish it. I will be doing more challenges over Christmas.

Mr Barnes added: "The important thing for Zac's is that these challenges generate unrestricted funding.

"As a charity, a lot of the funding we get is restricted and we still need money to pay for the boring things like gas bills. If we don't pay these bills, we can't operate."