Clan stalwart completes toughest challenge yet
An inspirational duo reached the finishing line of an incredible cycle challenge this afternoon.
Marty Flett and Keith Oddie returned to Kirkwall after cycling over 370 miles for Clan Cancer Support.
The trip — spanning just four days — took them to all of the charity’s centres across Shetland, Moray, north-east Scotland, and back to Orkney.
Despite the huge feat, which involved cycling 132 miles in a single day, they managed to complete the challenge ahead of time.
Seven members of Orkney Cycle Club then met them off the Hamnavoe in Stromness for the final leg of the journey.
Marty and Keith arrived back to the Clan base in Victoria Street to a hero’s welcome.
“It was a bit harder than I was envisaging because I haven’t done a hundred mile for a long while on the bike,” Marty told The Orcadian.
“So to do 132 [miles] and then 100 off the back of it was quite hard.”
For the dedicated fundraiser, visiting all of Clan’s centres has been long-term ambition — and his toughest challenge so far.
Marty said: “It’s a thing that’s been on my list for a long while. I’ve been wanting to do it for about 15 years so I’ve finally got it done.
“I’m far too old — I should have done it 15 year ago!”
He added that he was very happy to have taken on the challenge, and to now see the money come rolling in.
For the duo, the epic cycle trip has been a chance to see how Clan is able to help so many people.
Keith said: “It was actually quite humbling and it gave you a bit of an insight, quite literally, into how far it reaches — all the way up to Whalsay, and where all the centres are and actually the number of folk involved.
“It was bit of a privilege to be able to do that and everywhere we went there were people who were either working in Clan or involved in Clan or ambassadors or volunteers.”
Originally from Orkney, Keith moved south in 1993 and lives in Aberdeen. He has known Marty for a long time.
“I knew he wanted to do this visit to all the centres and he suggested it and I said ‘yeah, I’ll keep you company.’”
He praised the fantastic help from their support team, travelling in a van, which included Andy McGinn, alongside Bruce Simpson and, for the Shetland leg, Adrian Stanger.
To donate to the fundraiser visit the JustGiving page.
