Louis Gaonac’h has almost completed his marathon 8,800 kilometres cycling challenge.

The 14-year-old has been riding 16 kilometres on an exercise bike every day for some 18 months now and is scheduled to cross the ‘finishing line’ in the next seven days or so.

It’s a hugely impressive achievement, one that means the Cleeve School pupil will realise his ambition of going to the World Scouts Jamboree in South Korea next month.

Louis, a member of Woodmancote Scout Group, was selected by the Scouts Association to go to the World Scouts Jamboree.

The proviso was that he raised £4,000 to fund his trip, money that he had to raise himself, hence his virtual cycling challenge which has seen him ride halfway across the world – there is a tracker on his bike – before reaching the final destination which, appropriately, is Seoul.

“I’m very proud of him, we’re nearly there,” said his dad Julien. “He’s so resilient, he’s done 16 kilometres a day every day since December 2021.”

Some of those miles have been done on the open road but the vast majority have been done on the exercise bike at his Woodmancote home and Julien continued: “He comes in from school, has some food and then goes into the garage and cycles for about 45 minutes.”

It’s been a remarkable show of dedication and Louis would surely be forgiven if he said he never wanted to get on a bicycle again once he’s completed the challenge. Not that that’s the case, far from it!

“He said he is going to miss it,” laughed his dad. “I said, ‘Really?’

“I think we’ll go out cycling together when this is all finished, that will be nice.”

And while the cycle challenge has raised the bulk of the £4,000 needed for Louis’ trip to South Korea, he still needed more to make up the final total, with Julien saying: “We’ve done bingo, a car wash at Cleeve School, made cakes.

“There are so many nice people who have supported us, so many generous people, we’re very grateful to everyone.”

Louis, who turned 14 last month, is certainly a very busy boy because he also plays football for Bishop’s Cleeve Rovers.

“He’s keen to carry on next season,” said his dad, “he loves it.”

And when he returns for pre-season he’ll be able to tell his team-mates all about his trip to South Korea, of course, a trip he’s really looking forward to.

“He’s very excited,” said Julien. “He flies at the end of July. I don’t think he’s nervous yet, but I think he will get nervous nearer the time. He’ll be away for three weeks, he’s never been away for three weeks.”

The World Scouts Jamboree, which is attended by 40,000 scouts from all over the world, takes place every four years. The previous one was held in the US.