At 7.15am this morning 13 FoE cyclists left Marble Arch in London - next stop, Arc de Triomphe, Paris!

News from the team is that they've successfully completed the first leg of their journey, and have arrived tired but happy 75 miles down the road.

FoE founder, Olympic Torchbearer nominee and all-round legend Fiona Campbell has been Tweeting throughout today's journey - follow @FoEduSport to join the party.

By 9.30 this morning, the team had already suffered their first puncture. Later, 50km outside of London, the casualty total had risen to 3 punctures, 1 wheel replacement and a written off bike! Rona (@rondaawg) reported that this bike was crushed by a truck, but fortunately a new one was purchased and the team pressed on.

Fiona summarised the day in another Tweet at 7.30pm this evening, 12 hours after their departure: Incredible day1 #london2paris 4punctures,1 replaced wheel, 1bike written off and new one bought! 75miles completed. Happy foe team!

Remember, it's not too late to sponsor the team to spur them on their way - the team JustGiving site can be found at http://www.justgiving.com/teams/London2ParisChallenge

We look forward to hearing more from the team, and hope that despite them having disappeared to the deathly silence of international roaming charges, they may be able to find wifi hotspots to update us!

Bex Maybury