A KEEN cyclist has praised the medical team that enabled him to take on a marathon ride just two years after suffering a heart attack.

Ed French, from Dorchester, feared he may never be able to ride his bike again following major surgery after he unknowingly had a cardiac arrest in 2010.

However, with the help of the cardiac team at Dorset County Hospital , he was able to get back in the saddle and has taken part in a 205km mountain challenge in the Pyrenees, the Quebrantahuesos.

Ed, 67, was one of 8,500 riders taking on the gruelling race but few other competitors could have defied the odds more to finish. He said: “It was very hard.

“Because I’ve been to Spain before I knew about the event and I always said I was going to do it one day, then I had this heart problem.

“Eventually when my consultant said it was okay I said to my wife: ‘I’m going to do it.’ “The consultant said there was no problem as long as I bring pictures back and show him.”

Ed has been a keen marathon runner and cyclist for many years and in 2007 he rode from Yeovilton to Valencia in Spain for charity.

Two years ago he had rode at an event in the Purbecks and fell ill the following day but it was not until some time later that he was told by doctors that he had suffered a heart attack. Ed said: “They said if you weren’t as fit as you were when it happened you might not be here.”

He underwent a major operation to have four stents put into the arteries around his heart and later required a second operation.

Having now recovered from the operations with the support of the team at Dorset County Hospital , Ed – who works for the Ministry of Defence in Yeovil – said he was back to full fitness and proved it with his European adventure.

He said: “At Dorset County Hospital they were brilliant, absolutely superb.

“I thought it was the end of my running and cycling and I would just be walking.

“But I’m fit as a fiddle now – I’m going to do it again next year.”