YELVERTON business-man David Parlby took on the gruelling Prudential Ride London Race last Sunday — and raised more than £2,571 for the Beating Bowel Cancer Charity. The ride, which followed the 2012 Olympic cycle route, had to be cut from 100 to 86 miles due to torrential downpours and flash floods. Sixty-year-old David, who has just retired as the boss of Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, was cycling in the Beating Bowel Cancer's team of riders being led by team captain, TV personality and rugby star Matt Dawson.  David took on the challenge in memory of a friend, Jeremy Schroeter, who died of bowel cancer last year aged 60. He said: 'Jeremy was one of the fittest people I knew. We played Rugby Fives together for many years and competed both regionally and nationally, so it was a complete shock when he became ill. 'I really want to raise awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer and encourage people to get checked out as soon as possible if they have any concerns because early diagnosis and treatment can make a huge difference to the outcome.' David is a keen cyclist. He recently competed in the Dartmoor Classic, and last year cycled 700 miles across Spain in just nine days. However, he said that nothing prepared him for the appalling weather conditions during the race. 'I'm used to cycling in Dartmoor downpours, but at one point in the race my pedal was completely submerged when negotiating a particularly deep puddle under a bridge in Surrey, ' he said. Despite the weather, David battled on to complete the 86-mile course in 5 hours 34 minutes at an average speed of 15.8mph. Matt Dawson, patron of the charity Beating Bowel Cancer, said: 'I'm so pleased that David took part in the Prudential Ride London-Surrey 100 challenge as part of my team and raised such an impressive amount of sponsorship money. 'Beating Bowel Cancer can only carry on its great work supporting patients due to the generous support of fundraisers like David.'