OLYMPIAN Nick Dempsey is heading a team of athletes on a charity challenge from one end of the country to the other.

The ambitious project aims to cover the distance from John O’Groats, Scotland, to Land’s End, Cornwall, by land, air and sea.

Father-to-be Nick, 28, of Wyke Regis, Weymouth, will be among five cyclists to tackle the 882-mile route, which is expected to take nine days, from June 7.

He will be joined by Jason Gill, a disabled athlete who will hand-cycle the journey, and ‘the world’s fittest athlete’ Robin Simpson who aims to cycle there and back – in an attempt to beat the current record of six days 17 hours.

At the same time, endurance runner Kevin Carr will run a 1,111-mile cross-country route and former world champion kite surfer Stephanie Bridge will attempt to kite surf along the coast.

Athens bronze medallist windsurfer Nick said: “We hope to raise £100,000 for the British Heart Foundation.

“We chose it because it’s a very well-run charity, which doesn’t have massive overheads and is very effective with the money you raise.

“Heart and circulatory disease is the biggest killer in the UK so it’s the biggest thing that affects families around us.

“It’s a very worthy cause.”

He added: “I’m also doing this as part of my training for the World Championships in Weymouth this September.

“Robin, the world’s fittest man, is trying to break the record for going there and back.

“There’s a few absolute ‘nutters’ involved.

“Kevin’s training for a mammoth challenge of 40 back-to-back marathons across the Sahara desert in 40 days in October this year.

“Steph is going need a bit of luck on her side because if we have a week of northerly winds, it’s impossible.”

Along the way, Nick’s wife Olympian Sarah Dempsey and her gold-medal-winning teammates Sarah Gosling and Pippa Wilson will address schools and colleges on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Sarah, who is due to have the couple’s first baby on June 27, will be accompanying the team in a support van with Sarah and Pippa.

Nick said: “It’s a nine-day journey and we aim to visit a different school every weekday.

“Sarah’s planned lots of activities for the schools.

“It’s going to be really hands-on and, hopefully, inspire the kids to get involved and enjoy sport.

“We’ll always be starting the day from a school and at weekends, Sarah’s arranged for us to visit NHS children’s wards.”

The charity challenge team has been brought together by the Be Number 1 fundraising website, which supports British sport and enables athletes to receive public donations towards their campaigns.

Find out more and sponsor them at www.benumber1.co.uk