OLYMPIC snowboarding medallist Jenny Jones joined hundreds of cyclists in raising more than £25,000 for a male suicide prevention charity.

The winter sports star took part in Nelson’s Tour de Test Valley on Saturday September 17, in honour of late friend and former coach Nelson Pratt, who took his own life in 2012.

The former Grateley resident, known as ‘Nelly’, was known as one of the UK’s most talented snowboarders at the time of his death, aged 33.

As previously reported, he was also crucial to her becoming the first Briton to win an Olympic medal in a snow event, at the 2014 Sochi winter games, according to bronze medalist Jones.

Following Nelson’s death, brother Chris Pratt and friend Marcus Chapman decided to organise an annual cycling event to honour their late loved one and raise money and awareness of male suicide.

The pair joined forces with charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), which aims to reduce male suicide rates amongst young men.

This year, nearly 1,000 cyclists took part in the fourth annual event to raise more than £25,000.

Mr Chapman said: “It was good due to the number of people who came and the good weather.

“We had a mix of cyclists and 30 per cent were women, which is really good.

“We had kids down, who were seven or eight, which is incredible.

“We had a lot of people actively raising money for CALM and awareness is being raised for male suicide, which is the single biggest cause of death in men under 45.”

The event, which started and finished at Nelson’s parent’s farm in Grateley, was split into three distances of 40km, 80km 160km.

The 37-year-old pointed out two young cyclists, Mia Brookes, 11, and Ewan Sladen, 12, rode the 40km route and raised more than £1,000 between them.

He said the event would not have been possible without the support from people and business like Knight Frank estate agents and Langdowns DFK.

Details of next year’s fundraiser are due out soon - click here for more information.