A 138-strong team supporting Dundee Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre will help raise around £500,000 for the charity today.
Cancer survivors and those touched by the disease are taking on the challenge of the Great Glen in a mass participation event that spans 73 miles.
Around 650 made their way to the Highlands on Friday, totally focused on Williamthat’s Fort Williamthe starting point of the Maggie’s Bike and Hike. Their “big day” has involved many weeks of preparation and, for some, that included gruelling treatment for cancer.
Just 10 days ago Perth mother-of-two Tanya Hay completed a course of radiotherapy that followed months of chemotherapy for breast cancer. Though her training has been significantly interrupted by sickness and other side-effects of the treatment aimed at saving her life,
Tanya’s determination to participate hasn’t wavered.
Ahead of the start today, she was looking forward to taking part with her husband Graeme and colleagues from Perth and Kinross Council’s environmental services department. Their team alone has raised over £11,500 already.
“We are going to hit £12,000,” Tanya said. “Money is still pouring in. It is unbelievable. People are so generous. I have just been overwhelmed by it all. The money is going to a very good cause. A lot of people who are giving me money have been touched by cancer somewhere in their lives.”
Though her preparation has been far from ideal, Tanya is determined to enjoy the day.
“I have not been doing nearly enough training,” she said. “I struggled and didn’t do anything during my last course of chemotherapy because I was really sick and just so tired.
“I am fine at the minute and it will be very much mental state over physical state. In my mind, I am feeling positive but I don’t know if my body will keep up. I am just going to enjoy myself and have a good natter with everybody on the route.”
One of her co-stars in the event will be the Laird of Glenbogle, actor Alastair Mackenzie, who played Archie MacDonald in the popular BBC TV drama Monarch of the Glen.
“He is coming up from London to take part with some friends,” said Maggie’s media spokesman Murray Easton. “He’s proving quite an attraction.”
The royal wedding is believed to have had a negative effect on the numbers participating in the Bike and Hike, with the level significantly down on last year, when just over 900 took part. However, the level of fund-raising doesn’t appear to be affected.
“Already, we have raised over £200,000 and are hoping to raise half a million when all the sponsor sheets come in,” Murray said. “A lot of people have been surprised at how much they have raised already, especially first-timers who have never been involved in fund-raising before.”
This reporter is relying on a military support team to get her through the Great Glen. Three men of the Territorial Army’s 225 Medical Regiment from Oliver Barracks in Dalkeith Road, Dundee, are convinced they will get me through the route.
Corporal Craig Marsden will be accompanying me and my team-mates to pace us and encourage us over the route, while Corporal Hugh Ferrier and Staff Sergeant Mark Lamb are in the van, transporting the gear and providing vital support. Go, team!