104 person bike

Charity fundraisers are hoping to ride into the record books after 104 people powered a unique pedal vehicle along an airfield runway in Cambridgeshire. The Great Dunmow and District Roundtable aimed to beat the record for the number of people on a pedal-powered vehicle, which was set at 82 in Sweden.

The 12-ton machine, housing 104 bicycle frames and wheels, was pedalled 700m along the Duxford site, on Saturday. The challenge raised £30,000 for local causes, the Essex-based charity said.

The pedal-powered machine is 118ft (36m) and sits on 12 Land Rover tyres.

Shaun Pledger, Round Table chairman and managing director of Alloy Fabweld who created the vehicle, told BBC News: "Unbelievably it has got three braking systems and although the bike with all the riders on it weighs some 12 tons you could stop it on a six pence.

"It was quite an engineering challenge. It took several months to design and several months to put together. It has a top speed of about 8mph. We've paid for half of it with commercial sponsorship and hopefully we can use it to create a lot of money for charity."

The previous record was set in 2005, when 82 people rode 82 cycles welded together in Sweden.