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cyclists hit new heights in nepal

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Three Toowoomba mates can now boast that they’ve conquered a grueling bike ride through the Himalayas while amassing a mountain of money to aid cancer research.

Troy Parsons, Greg Gunther and Cormac Carey cycled from Kathmandu in Nepal to Everest base camp in September to raise money for the Oncology Children’s Foundation.

Their group of 13 cyclists raised more that $90,000 for the OCL.

Sales and marketing director Charles Dennis said the donation was a fund-raising record for the charity “by a country mile”.

“Any accolades directed towards these guys are very much earned,” Mr Charles said.

Mr Parsons said the colossal adventure was the most significant thing he had ever done.

“I’m very proud that we did it. It’s incredibly satisfying,” he said.

“This is a charity that does wonderful things for people.”

OCL chief executive officer Ross Lewis said without the substantial donation, a new gene therapy trial would not have been able to go ahead.

Mr Dennis and Mr Lewis travelled up from Sydney yesterday to present the men with a few tokens of their gratitude.

The Chronicle – Jim Campbell Thursday, 17 December 2009