FOUR FOOTBALL FANS will get on their bikes and set out to cycle from Forres this weekend to take in an SPFL games in Inverness before heading south to Celtic Park in Glasgow.
The intrepid quartet are aiming to raise funds for Eileidh Paterson, the local toddler whose family are seeking to raise £100,000 to pay for specialist and potentially life-saving cancer treatment in the United States.
And joining the cyclists at a somewhat slower pace will be a team of walkers who plan to leave the Inverness game against Dundee United on Saturday and walk the 160 miles to Glasgow.
Behind the ‘Highland Bike Ride’ is Steve Taylor, a committed supporter of the fight against the Neuroblastoma cancer that three-year-old Eileidh has been fighting.
He said: “I started the Highland March in 2003 to mark my 50th birthday and went on to set up the Highland Bike ride for children with Neuroblastoma in 2014.
“With Eileidh’s appeal so desperate for funds, it makes sense this year to do both events for Eileidh, who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in May 2014.
“Her best hope of survival is treatment in the US – but it’s expensive and the family have to raise the money required. We need to help them.”
There to send off the quartet to the Inverness Caledonian Thistle game against Dundee United will be Forres Mechanics players Scott Moore and Simon Allan along with Eilidh and her mother Gail.
Donations to the Highland Bike Ride can be made through their Just Giving website.
Other events being planned include a Quiz Night this evening at the Legends Bar in Forres, while the same venue will host a ‘Legends got Talent’ event at 4pm on Sunday, May 24.
A Car Wash on behalf of the fund is being held on Sunday, May 16 at the Forres Fire Station where there will also be entertainment for the kids and a sponsored leg waxing.
Eileidh’s online appeal had reached over £45,000 last night – but time is running out to reach the £100,000 target which is required by the end of June.
Organising an event to help the effort for Eileidh? Let THE EDITOR know the details and we will publicise it on insideMoray.