The friends and family of Scottish surfing legend Iain Masson have completed an emotional cycling challenge in his honour.
The 56-year-old died in February after a long battle with illness.
The “local legend” was said to have “touched lives and made friends across the globe” through his surfing travels, becoming an unprecedented seven-time Scottish national champion.
On Sunday, the Buchan Dirlers Cycling Club staged a poignant tour of the region to honour Iain.
On the 40-mile route, they stopped at his grave in Peathill, at Fraserburgh beach where he loved to surf and the St Combs home he shared with wife Michelle.
North-east man who became one of Scotland’s greatest surfers
Iain was best known for his accomplishments riding the waves, as one of Scottish surfing’s brightest ever stars.
He first represented his country at a European championship event in 1987 and dominated the sport in the 1990s.
Iain even made history in 2014 as the oldest competitor to take part in the World Surfing Games in Peru, aged 48.
He was credited as the “main driver” in bringing the British Surfing Championships to Fraserburgh in 1995 and ran the Point Northeast surf shop there with his friend Alan Wilson.
On the shore yards away, he mentored the next generation of surfers.
Iain Masson’s life of adventure
Also a keen cyclist, Iain made many friends when he joined the Ythan Cycling Club in 2010.
He embraced long-distance challenges such as the 85-mile Etape Caledonia, the 103-mile Three Pistes and a 100-mile trip around the Cairngorms.
In 2013, he took part in L’Etape Du Tour – an 83-mile stage of the Tour De France around the French Alps.
Iain cycled through Italy in the Maratona Des Dolomites in 2015 and 2017, tackling some tough mountain terrain.
He had another holiday in 2018, this time revisiting the French Alps for a week exploring the mountains there.
Even when he went on more relaxing visits abroad with wife Michelle, Iain would pack his bike and spend a day or two cycling through Tenerife.
Athlete’s leukaemia diagnosis
But his adventurous lifestyle came to a heartbreaking halt when the healthy athlete was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
The cancer attacks the white blood cells, and requires immediate treatment to prevent it from spreading aggressively.
Iain and partner Michelle had been together for almost 16 years when, faced with his worsening health, they decided to get married.
The quiet ceremony took place on June 18, 2019, at Michelle’s parents’ house.
And while other couples would have jetted off to some exotic locale to celebrate tying the knot, Michelle told us they “spent their honeymoon” in ward 205 at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI).
She added: “Iain had so many setbacks during his treatment but he was always so brave, never complained and always had a smile for everyone.
“He didn’t like making any fuss and always wanted to spare those around him from his suffering.”
The couple was given some hope when he had a stem cell transplant at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QUEH) in Glasgow that November.
It was a time of some happiness, as he was finally in remission from cancer.
Transplant took tragic turn
But in a tragic turn of events, Iain soon developed acute and chronic graft versus host disease as a result of the transplant.
The condition can occur when the donated stem cells view the recipient’s body as foreign and attack its organs.
Michelle explained: “This led to multiple illnesses as the new immune system he’d been given attacked various organs in his body.
“He was hospitalised in ARI and QEUH for the majority of 2020 and 2021, with eight weeks at home in June and July 2021.”
Hospital staff ‘tried everything possible’
She added: “We were all very grateful to the NHS, especially ward 112 in ARI and ward 4B at QEUH for giving him the best possible chance and trying everything possible.
“Sadly, at the end of January 2022 there really were no other options left.
“The medication he needed to stop the new immune system from destroying his organs meant that he was extremely susceptible to life-threatening infections, and most antibiotics had become ineffective.
“In January 2022, Iain had developed a fungal infection in his central nervous system and was too weak for any other treatment.
“He chose to come home for whatever time he had left and passed away six days later at St Combs on February 3.”
This video from 2017 shows Iain Masson in action:
In April, the Scottish National Surfing Championships in Thurso were dedicated to Iain.
You can share some of your memories of Iain Masson in our comments section below
Dozens honour Iain with memorial cycle
On Sunday, a little more than four months since Iain died, his friends paid him a fitting tribute.
Organiser Ian Laidlaw said the memorial 40-mile cycle around the north-east was a “success beyond his expectations” as more than 50 people took part.
That number included some of Iain’s friends and family and cyclists from as far afield as Elgin.
In total, they raised £2,000 for Friends of Anchor.
Ian said: “We were really pleased that Iain’s family could join us, some for the cycle and others for a cup of tea and a blether afterwards.
“I think they were quite touched by the occasion.
“He was quite an unassuming chap, I believe he didn’t even tell his family about being a seven-time Scottish surfing champion. That’s how modest he was.”
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