After losing his teenage son to cancer, Walter Sutherland found support from Moray’s diverse cycling community.
And as part of the thriving Moray Wheelers group, he has committed himself to raising money towards curing the disease in honour of 18-year-old Scott.
Mr Sutherland has just completed his fifth sponsored cycle for the Cancer Research UK charity.
The 64-year-old said: “I lost my son to cancer 15 years ago, so this cause is very personal to me.
“The main thing is raising as much money as possible for research into cancer.”
Most of the members of Moray Wheelers are more than 60 years old and one is nearing 80.
But for the last five years, they have defied the limitations of their age by completing a challenging summer cycle in order to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
During the course of seven days, as the prelude to finishing last Friday, they rode south from Stornoway, down the entire length of the Outer Hebrides to Barra.
Then after catching a ferry to Oban, they cycled back to Elgin via Aviemore.
They undertook the same journey they travelled last year, only in the reverse order.
“The route appealed the most to the group,” said Mr Sutherland.
For preparation, the group trained every Sunday – attracting around 30 to 40 members at their Harbour Lights meeting point in Lossiemouth.
Mr Sutherland added: “This was by far the largest group we had taking part in the cycle, there were 34 people and two of our members have recovered from major operations.
“When you consider that one of them is 77 years of age, it is quite inspirational.”
One of the cyclists taking part is currently in remission, after lengthy spells of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
According to Cancer Research UK, around 280 teenagers and young adults die from cancer each year.
The charity also revealed that one in two people will suffer from a form of cancer in their life, so many of the cyclists taking part in the event have been affected by the illness.
Mr Sutherland said: “A lot of it is about people trying to gain closure as part of their recovery from cancer.
“Last year, we raised the most we have ever done with £38,000, we cannot expect to do that again, but we had a lot of help from the local community and businesses.”
So far, their efforts have amassed over £54,000 in total, contributing greatly to the kind of research that has seen treatment improve dramatically in the last 10 years.
Due to the success of their previous endeavours, Mr Sutherland is confident they can continue to raise money in the future.
By jumping on their bikes, the veterans have also promoted the message that cancer “does not have to be a death sentence”.
Anyone who would like to donate to the Moray Wheelers cause can head to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/The-Moray-Wheelers-Hebrides4CRUK
