Brechin City’s Euan Spark has been racking up the miles in pursuit of the Breedon Highland League title – but on Sunday he’ll be pounding the pedals for charity.
The defender, who runs Maison Dieu Coffee Roasters in Brechin, has organised a 66-mile cycle to raise funds for MND Scotland and the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
More than 50 cyclists have signed up to take part in the ride which starts at 9am on Sunday with the route taking in Montrose, Arbroath, Broughty Ferry and Forfar.
Maison Dieu in Brechin is the starting point with stops at Montrose’s Links Park, Arbroath’s Gayfield, Maison Dieu’s coffee shop in Broughty Ferry, Forfar’s Station Park and Brechin’s Glebe Park before they complete the journey back to their departure point.
Spark was keen to support Motor Neurone Disease charities after his friend, and Maison Dieu co-founder, Rangers defender John Souttar lost his brother Aaron to the disease in 2022.
Spark hopes to raise £5000 and has set up a justgiving page, while 50% of Maison Dieu sales on Sunday will be donated to the charities.
The former Elgin City player said: “Our community has been very good to us and community is massive to us. This is a community event that we’re excited to host.
“There’s a few things in Brechin to support MND charities. There’s a golf event in a couple of weeks that we’ll have a team in as well.
“Aaron was a big part of the community in Brechin and a lot of people knew him.
“A lot of people have tried to raise money for those charities and this is our way of trying to help.
“We’ve also got a close friend who is in the early stages of getting diagnosed and if you go back a few years it wasn’t really spoken about.
“Fernando Ricksen was one who people knew and then you’ve had Doddie Weir and locally we’ve had Aaron.
“It’s a horrible disease and any money and awareness that can be raised is a good thing and anything we can contribute is great.”
Months in the planning
Spark will be taking part in the cycle provided he doesn’t pick up any injuries during Saturday’s game against Fraserburgh.
Unfortunately Souttar won’t be there due to the small matter of his club Rangers taking on Celtic at Ibrox.
Spark added: “Provided I don’t pick up any injuries on Saturday I’ll be doing it.
“I’ll be at the rear of the group, but hopefully there’s a tail wind to help me along.
“We planned this months ago looking at fixtures and at that time the Old Firm game was on Saturday so we thought that would be perfect and we were hoping John would be there.
“But the timing hasn’t worked out with the game moving, but we’ll be keeping updated on the score and how John’s getting on.”
