Final Update: Challenge Completed
Monday 31st August brought to an end the FAFC cycle event 2020 "Trip to Dingwall" fundraiser with 23 cyclists and families taking part.
The efforts made by all cyclists throughout the month has been phenomenal, so a huge thank you from the Club for the cycling efforts and the fundraising.
The start of the month got off to a flyer with everyone hitting the road as the weather was so nice, Alick Archibald and David Moore spending their holidays enjoying the open road with a superb effort in the opening week. Early on Stephen Cormie took the challenge to the extreme with an actual trip to Dingwall in one day! He followed that up with a trip to Cove and various other places further afield.
Over the month the weather was mixed with a few windy days and the odd rainy rides, made worse when Phil McKenna teased us all with pictures from his sunny cycle rides around the Costa Blanca.
The midweek rides were a great success with a number of riders, including Kenny Beats one if our main event sponsors, enjoying the scenic rides each Wednesday around Angus on John Milnes mystery rides. The highlight being the glorious evening ride to Memus and the halfway cakes provided by Louise Taylor (kindly donated by her mum Linda!).
The main star of the event was David Moore racking up well over 700 miles in the month, closely followed by Stephen Cormie with 600.
Jonathen Smith also deserves a wee mention for the cheeriest cyclist ever (even in the rain), and what an effort from someone who had major surgery on both knees less than six months ago. Not sure who is more inspirational this week, Jonny or Andy Murray!
Special mention must also go to Donna Hutcheon and 12-year-old son Dylan who before the event had done very little cycling, but with bikes dusted down, they accepted the challenge. Hitting the road on a number of rides with most well over 20 miles, they both easily completed 150 miles each which is a tremendous effort. Also great them both sporting their Forfar tops on a few of their trips and of course mini Baxter!
Paul and Jo Stephen both completed the 150+ miles with Paul starting off on borrowed bikes before getting the cycling bug and now can be seen cycling around Angus at any opportunity on his new shiny bike. Adding to the family total of 348 miles were 12-year-old Mackenzie and 9-year-old Holly.
After a slow start and under the pressure of seeing everyone else racking up the miles the focus was on Chairman Ross Graham to get on his bike. Squeezing in a few daytime rides and a few miles across the water in Fife he also completed the 150 miles with a few days to spare, enjoying a nice cold beer on completion.
Despite initial worries about his choice of bike David Patullo completed the challenge with time to spare and thanks to David Dunlop, Raymond Black, Scott Murdie and Lesley Deas for some great photos.
A few of our cyclists were a bit shy on the photo front (Billy Duthie, Ian Dryden, Paula Elvin and Alastair Donald) but still achieved the target.
A huge well done to all the cyclists for completing the challenge set of 150 miles which was the distance from Forfar to Dingwall, the distance travelled 25 years ago by many supporters to watch the Loons win the league.
Also well done to the seven riders who completed more than enough miles to make the return trip.
A very special thank you and well done to John Milne who not only completed the challenge but organised this fundraising event for the Club. He kept the motivation levels high with a fine balance of encouragement and pestering to make sure the cyclists kept up their good work throughout the month. He also organised the popular midweek group outings. Thank you, John, from everyone involved and also from the Club.
If you would like to show you support and appreciation for the exceptional efforts put in by all the cyclists over the month of August then any donation would be appreciated. You can make a donation here until 7 September:
https://bit.ly/2Pmpnwa
Thank you to everyone who has already supported this challenge and to our event sponsors who we will feature in another special post.
Bravo to all the cyclists who took part
Alick Archibald
Kenny Beats
Raymond Black
Stephen Cormie
Lesley Deas
Alastair Donald
David Dunlop
Billy Duthie
Ian Dryden
Paula Elvin
Ross Graham
Donna and Dylan Hutcheon
Phil McKenna
John Milne
David Moore
Scott Murdie
David Patullo
Jonathen Smith
Paul, Jo, Mackenzie and Holly Stephen
