Returning cycling champion Andrew White received a hero’s welcome from family and friends on Sunday with a surprise party in his home town of Okehampton.

Andrew, 23, returned victorious last week from the Invictus Games in Canada, a championship for wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel, with silver and gold medals.

And on Sunday evening, friends, family and cycling pals from the community surprised him with a party at the Freemasons Hall in Okehampton.

‘It was amazing,’ said Andrew. ‘I was told we were just going for a family dinner, so when I arrived at the hall and everyone was there it was very special and very unexpected.

‘I had Josh Coyne, my training partner, there and all of the members of the local cycling club, the town mayor and all my friends and family — my mum and dad, my wife Holly and my mother-in-law and father-in-law, who came out to Canada with us, as well as Nigel Hale-Hunter, my coach.

‘We had a big cake and I was given a couple of bottles of Champagne and there was lots of food. It was just a really nice atmosphere. I had just finished a 100-mile cycle ride that day as well, the local sportif, which I did in five hours and 50 minutes.’

Okehampton mayor Jan Goffey, who was at the party, said: ‘There must have been about 60 people there, including members of the local cycling club. It was very clear that the local community in Okehampton are very much behind him. He’s done really, really well, and it is nice to see that recognised by everyone here.’

Andrew, a former soldier and Afghanistan veteran, qualified for the Invictus games as a veteran who has been medically discharged from the army, due to a severe non-freezing cold injury to his feet.

He cycled his way to gold in the men’s road cycling IRB 3 criterium. He crossed the line in a time of 28 minutes 21 seconds to take first place, ahead of fellow GB team mate Nathan Jones and the USA’s Adam Faine in third.

Just two days previously, on September 25, he won silver in the men’s five-kilometre time trial, just losing out to a fellow Great Britain competitor.

Andrew flew back from Canada on Monday last week, and is now back at his day job at Rentokil in Okehampton.

His success came after months of training on the roads of West Devon. He credits cycling with giving him back his sense of purpose after he was invalided out of the army — and said that his medals were just as much for the friends and family who supported him on that journey.

‘It was good for me to win the medals, but it was also nice to be able to repay the effort that everyone around me has made,’ said Andrew. ‘Nigel has coached me completely free of charge, and my wife has put up with my long evenings of training and Sundays when I go for long rides, get back go to bed and then go out to work the next day,

‘My family haven’t seen me that much at all these past months so it was really nice to come home with something which showed that the hard work had really paid off.’