Euan’s 11 day cycle race raises £15k

Euan Duff successfully completed the challenge on Saturday together with James McNay, originally from Dumfries, but admitted that the wheels almost came off their venture on the very first day.
Setting off from Ulm, below Stuttgart, Euan, 26 said: “I hit a tram line and ended up flat out on the ground.
“Luckily there were no trams.”
He added: “I was more worried about my bike. It was on day one, and I thought, ‘If I’ve broken my bike, that’s it’.”
However, the duo ploughed on up towards Stuttgart, on up into Cologne, on to Antwerp and Bruge, then into France and towards Dunkirk, cyling up to 130 miles a day as they headed for the UK.
Euan said: “We got an absolutely fantastic reception in Germany. Really nice people.”
Faced with some abuse from motorists in the UK, he says that cyclists ‘are like Gods’ in Germany — treated with great respected by drivers.
But the duo cycled into Glasgow on Saturday — postponing the last 15 miles to Saturday so that family and friends could attend.
And the effort raising money for the Anthony Nolan Trust has personal significance for Euan, whose father Colin was diagnosed with rare blood disorder essential thrombocythaemia in 1980 and has undergone two bone marrow transplants.
Euan, who undertook fundraising triathlons last summer, said: “The £15,000 we’ve raised wouldn’t even cover my dad for his two transplants. You’re looking at about £15,000 for a basic transplant per patient, and my dad had two.”
And with under 400,000 registered bone marrow donors in the UK, Euan says he was shown round transplant centres in Germany where about six million people are on the register.
He said: “It shows you how far advanced Germany are in getting people involved than Britain.”
Looking to future fundraising, Euan said: “There’s talk of doing Barcelona Iron Man next year, but I don’t know if my body’s ready for that, yet.
“My body’s just enjoying a break.”