A businessman who suffered three heart attacks by the age of 40 is taking on a mammoth mountain biking challenge in aid of British Heart Foundation.

Alex La Roche, 41, who also suffers from sleep apnoea, will be trekking 42 miles across the rocky terrain of the Peak District on April 28, hoping to raise £500 for the charity.

Mr La Roche, owner of electricians Alectrix Limited, has a family history of heart problems and suffered his first heart attack in 2011 aged just 34, before having two more less severe episodes in early 2017.

He said: “With an ejection fraction now of below 35 per cent I am unfortunately in the severe heart failure category and have had my own defibrillator fitted as both a monitoring system and an emergency device.”

Despite his condition being touch and go, with the help of the NHS and support from the charity, Mr La Roche is now able to enjoy one of his biggest passions again.

He said: “One very important thing I have learnt out of all of this is not to wrap yourself up in cotton wool and to carry on with the cardio rehab and exercise to get the heart muscle as fit as possible.

“For me I have gone back to doing something that I really love to do which is mountain biking.

“Thankfully due to modern technologies I can now do this with slight assistance in the form of a pedal assist electric mountain bike.”

Mr La Roche, of Hunt Road, Earls Colne, with wife, Emma, and son Finlay, said the British Heart Foundation was essential to relieve the pressure on an already overstretched NHS.

“This is why I am pushing that extra bit harder to push my boundaries further and raising money for the British Heart Foundation,” he said.

“It will be a hard challenge as the bike will have to be set really at the lowest it can go to make up for what my heart is lacking in order to achieve these 42 gruelling miles.”

To donate go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/alexlaroche.