Intrepid bike duo smash £10k North Coast 500 fundraising target

Two bike riders have handed over more than £10,000 after completing an epic cycle in aid of local children in hospital.

Ewan MacDonald, of MacDonald Group, and Gavin Johnston, of Inverness Taxis, set off from Inverness Castle and pedalled non-stop all around the North Coast 500 to raise money for The ARCHIE Foundation.

The pals surpassed their £10k fundraising target to raise £10,189 and stopped by the Highland Children’s Unit to present the cheque

The avid cyclists also set themselves a goal of completing the 500-mile route, from Inverness up to Caithness, Sutherland, Wester Ross than back to the Highland capital, in just 40 hours.

They are thrilled to smash that time and cross the finish line around five hours ahead of that.

Ewan said: “We are absolutely delighted. It’s a lot of money to have raised when we didn’t have any dinners or auctions, we just used our connections and the public and the amount of support has been incredible. The whole experience has been really humbling.

“ARCHIE is a fantastic charity and has touched the lives of so many people in the Highlands.

“It was an extremely tough challenge. We both did a lot of hard work and preparation for it.

“It was tough both physically and mentally – I think the training was as difficult as the actual ride itself.

“We couldn’t have done it without my brother Ross MacDonald and Eric Innes who acted as our support crew on the road. They are both keen cyclists and they understood when we needed a help.”

Dawn Cowie, ARCHIE Highland fundraising officer, added: “This is an incredible amount of money to have raised.

“I know both Ewan and Gavin put a lot of training into this cycle and I am delighted they managed to reach their fundraising goal as well as smashing their time target.

“This money will go towards helping a child’s experience in hospital as positive as it can be.”