Roller skater completes 874-mile challenge in friend's memory

A man from Portsmouth has roller skated the equivalent distance of Land's End to John O'Groats.

Ross Pollock, 43, completed the 874-mile (1,400km) challenge over 86 days to raise money for the family of a friend who died of cancer.

He said it was a tribute to Zbigniew Jablonski, who died in June.

Mr Pollock said he started skating up to 14 miles (22km) a day at 05:00 each morning and even continued skating while on summer holiday in Moldova.

Mr Jablonski had coached Mr Pollocks' children with the Lee Rangers junior football team.

Father-of-three Mr Pollock described his friend as a "wonderful family man".

"I looked at what I could do personally, I wasn't the fittest.

"While I was roller skating I was thinking about the family and what they were going through, that was the driving force when it was difficult and I was tired, that's what pushed me through."

Mr Pollock said he lost four stone in the process and was regularly chased by the same two dogs along Alverstoke Sea Front.

"I have made lots of friends along the way - runners, walkers, cyclists, friendly dogs - the same faces most mornings.

"But most of all, I have the satisfaction of doing something in the memory of a great man and friend and his lovely family," he said.