LIAM HALLIGAN and SERGE KOGAN are taking part in the DUCHENNE DASH - Duchenne UK's signature fundraising event, that challenges cyclists to ride 300km from London to Paris in 24 HOURS

But instead of joining the 150 other Duchenne Dash riders on solo bikes, Liam and Serge will be doing this epic ride – which most charity events take three days to complete – on a TANDEM.

All money raised will help fund vital research to accelerate the development of treatments for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) – a devastating and ultimately fatal muscle-wasting disease diagnosed in childhood.

Liam took part in the first Duchenne Dash back in 2013 and has ridden London-to-Paris-in-24-hours for Duchenne UK every year since. You can get a sense of the spirit of this incredible event from the photos in the "gallery" section of this post.

This year, Liam is delighted to be joined by one of his oldest and dearest friends, Serge Kogan - who is travelling to the UK from his native California, especially to take on this gruelling charity bike ride.

Starting from Central London during the afternoon of Friday 8th May, the Duchenne Dash route snakes through South London then crosses Surrey and East Sussex, over the hilly South Downs –particularly tough on a tandem – with riders eventually reaching Newhaven, where they grab a hot meal and then board a late-night ferry.

Arriving in Dieppe before dawn, Dash riders then wolf down some breakfast before getting their heads down for the long, slog over the rolling plains of North France – all the time willing the French capital to come into view.

On entering Paris, the Dash group musters in the Bois de Boulogne, forming one mass peloton of super-high sprits and aching limbs, reaching the Eiffel Tower – having covered 100km in the UK and another 200km in France – just in time to make the "London-to-Paris-in-24-hours" deadline.

Duchenne UK – the charity which organises the Dash each year – was set up by some old friends of Liam from his days as a reporter on Channel 4 News, one of whom has a child with Duchenne. It is the leading DMD charity in Europe – and has worked tirelessly to connect the best researchers and affected families with industry and health authorities across the Western world to advance and accelerate every stage of DMD drug development.

It is a superbly well-run, highly efficient charity that has done brilliant work, funding clinical trials for treatments that offer proven benefits for those with Duchenne – and, with riders paying their own costs, all monies raised go to Duchenne UK.

Liam and Serge are enormously proud to be playing a small part in helping the irrepressible founders of Duchenne UK to continue with their incredibly valuable activities – funding research and clinical trials, while helping scientists and medics to do everything possible to develop drugs that can be used to treat DMD in the UK and elsewhere.

But the development of treatments and trials is ongoing – and more funding is needed, each and every year, to tackle this ghastly disease.

Please donate what you can – every penny counts and will be most gratefully received. And feel free to be rude about either Liam or Serge (or both of us) in the comments section !!

Together, we WILL end Duchenne