Retired professional cyclist Molly Weaver raised more than £9,000 for the Women's Aid Federation Of England during a 130km solo ride held in her backyard on Saturday due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Dirty Reiver, a long-distance gravel event she was scheduled to race, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I thought about what I could do instead and how I could help raise money for charity at this time of great need," Weaver said in a post on the event's JustGiving donation page.

Weaver designed a course in her backyard that ran on grass, gravel, and pavement; each lap was about 100 meters long, and she completed more than 1,000 laps in 12 hours.

"This will be the biggest mental and physical challenge I have ever done, but every donation motivates me to keep pedaling for an important cause," she wrote on her donation page.

"Let's support those who are going through the unimaginable during this blockade."

Women's Aid Federation of England is a national charity working to end domestic violence against women and children.

Weaver explained on her donation page that under "normal" circumstances, the statistics surrounding domestic violence are shocking and charities that help survivors are often not given the support they need.

These statistics include that one in three women aged 16-59 will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, that two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales alone, that in the year to March 2019, 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year to March 2019.

"Home confinement during Covid-19 is likely to lead to further abuse by perpetrators, and the numbers in confinement are already growing rapidly," Weaver wrote.

Weaver far exceeded his goal of £2,500, raising over £9,000 before the activity was over.

Donations can be made on the event's donation page, with proceeds going to the Women's Aid Federation Of England.