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How brave lads battled the elements to raise cash for baby unit

The Tough Mudder team from the north-east left to right Matt Thomson, Neale Duncan, JohnJames Robertson, Iain Bruce, Stuart Buchan, Nathan Dorney, Alexander Walker, James Smith.
The Tough Mudder team from the north-east left to right Matt Thomson, Neale Duncan, JohnJames Robertson, Iain Bruce, Stuart Buchan, Nathan Dorney, Alexander Walker, James Smith.

A brave team of north-east lads ran through nettles, swam and scaled high walls in a brutal course to raise more than £11,000 for charities close to their hearts.

Fisherman Stuart Buchan, from Peterhead, was joined by colleagues and friends at Tough Mudder Scotland in Dumfries recently, where they tackled an 11-mile course littered with testing obstacles as they ran to raise money for Aberdeen Royal Infirmary’s neo-natal unit and stillbirth charity SANDS.

Mr Buchan’s four-year-old boy Jude was in the unit for two weeks after he was born weighing just four pounds, and other members of the group have also had children cared for there.

He said: “The unit were brilliant. They were very good throughout the whole time when he was in Aberdeen. They are two charities that are close to everyone’s heart.”

Despite testing conditions and the gruelling route at Drumlanrig Castle, the eight-strong group enjoyed the day and were overwhelmed with the amount of cash that people generated.

Mr Buchan, aged 29, said: “The distance was the biggest problem for me. I don’t really do much running of anything too sporty. It was really enjoyable. We didn’t expect to raise so much money. ”

He added: “Both charities are really thankful. The Aberdeen unit is raising money for an incubator which costs around £40,000 so I think some of the money will go towards that. And SANDS sent me an email saying that they will probably use the money for the bereavement room.

“We’d like to thank everyone for their generosity, it’s quite overwhelming.”