A crowd gathered at City Dock shortly before midnight Saturday anxiously awaiting the arrival of eight British soldiers.

Team Battle Back biked 3,051 from Carlsbad, CA to Annapolis, MD as part of the 31st edition of Race Across America. 

Cameras flashed, champagne exploded and the roar of the crowd was deafening as the eight-member team rolled in.

"We're all a bunch of English servicemen from Great Britain, and it was a bit of a challenge, we all wanted a challenge," team member Mark Allen said. "We're from all different backgrounds, but we've all been through Headley Court, which is our rehabilitation, and that's where we met and where idea came from to do this."

Allen's a marine, and he rode one of the stand-up bikes. He's also a below-the-knee amputee. 

The team had four servicemen on regular bikes and four double amputee members rode hand-crank bikes.

He and his teammates will spend the next few days in Annapolis recuperating before flying home.

Allen said the group will "probably party and enjoy ourselves," which was a sentiment seconded by team member Joe Townsend.

He rode one of the hand-crank bikes and said the race was a great way to see the U.S.

"I've been here a few times, and done a few camps with wounded warriors as part of rehabilitation," Townsend said.

Team Battle Back's goal was to finish the race in eight days; it was a goal they beat crossing the finish line in seven days, seven hours and 59 minutes. 

Race director George Thomas said the team was one of the most popular teams on the race this year.

"There were 47 solo racers and there were 48 teams, but when you combine all the numbers together there were about 350 racers total," Thomas said. "But then when you think about taking this across the country, each team has a crew so all together the combined number was about 1,500 people taking part."

The winning team was #812 ViaSat who arrived in Annapolis in five days, five hours and five minutes.

Race Across America started in 1992 and has been finishing in Annapolis since 2006.

Thomas said the finish line will be up until around 3 p.m. Monday when they anticipate the last riders will cross the finish line.