A devoted brother is midway through his latest gruelling challenge to break the £40,000 barrier for the Angus mental health charity set up after the tragic loss of his sibling.
Over the past ten years, Ryan Ramsay has taken on an endurance feat every summer to raise money for Arbroath-based Reach Across.
It was formed following the death of Ryan’s older brother, Ross, who took his own life in 2013.
Ross was 30 when he went missing in Glasgow.
He had set up home in the city to pursue a music and theatre industry career.
The tragedy spawned the charity set up by the boys’ mum, Sandra, which has now grown to support more than 70 people a week.
In 2020, Reach Across moved to new premises in Arbroath’s Guthrie Port as pleas for suicide support spiralled during the pandemic.
Annual challenge
And in the decade since the devastating loss, Ryan has pushed himself to the limit in tribute to his brother.
He is marking a series of milestones with his most testing challenge yet – 30 triathlons in 30 days.
“Ross was 30 when he passed and I was 30 this year so 30 in 30 seemed a good thing to do,” said the Inverurie Academy PE teacher.
“Ross was also 10 years older than me and this is my tenth year of doing summer challenges – and my last.”
In 2017, Ryan and student friend Lexi Ligeti from South Africa entered the record books for completing the greatest three-legged distance covered in 24 hours.
He’s previously taken on cycling, mountain climbing, swimming and running to raise funds for Reach Across.
Closing in on fundraising target
And Ryan is determined to take his decade-long total past £40k.
He’s been up at the crack of dawn to take on at least a daily sprint triathlon of a 750-metre swim, 20 kilometre cycle and 5k run.
“I was running out of ideas about what to do, but this has definitely been a tough one,” he said.
“I started before the schools broke up for the summer holidays so it was a 4:45am alarm clock to get it done.”
Most of the events are on familiar territory around his home in Ellon, with dentist wife Katrina sometimes joining him.
But he was back in Angus to take part in the official Monikie triathlon earlier this month.
Ryan will finish off the challenge when he joins the capacity field for the popular Forfar sprint tri on Sunday July 23.
“I’ve also got 30 other people doing one or two each and 14 of them haven’t done a triathlon before.
“Every day I’m pushing myself – I’m always looking for a better time.
“And the memory of Ross is always there driving me on.”
With two young daughters, Amelia, 2, and 10-month-old Joanna Rose, it’s exhausting work fitting the triathlons in.
“I’m sitting at around £2,500 for this challenge just now,” said Ryan.
“That takes the overall total to £38,500 so I really want to get it to £40,000.”
You can donate to his fundraising effort at www.givey.com/30trisin30days
“Reach Across is seeing around 70 people a week and there are so many that we are helping,” Ryan added.
“We moved into bigger premises and that has made a huge difference to what Reach Across can do.”
