LISTEN: Endurance runner in epic challenge for Maggie's Highlands
At midnight on Wednesday the 6th of April Alistair Macpherson set off from Portree to run through two nights and a day without stopping, all the way to Inverness, a journey of 120 miles. 37-year-old Alistair - better known at home on Skye as Ally K - works for Caledonian MacBrayne, on board the Islay ferry. He began training in the Autumn, but Ally is no stranger to tough challenges. In 2014, he ran non-stop around Skye, raising £35,000 for Cancer Research UK. This time Ally has been running to raise funds for Maggie’s Highlands, the charity which offers free support to people with cancer and their family and friends across the Highlands and Islands. Ally has been working again with the same team that got him through the run around Skye, including Fiona Rennie and Pauline Walker, twin sisters who have both represented Scotland internationally in ultra-marathon events and who will take turns to set the pace for Ally in four-hour stints. Ally’s team has also included a physio and a nutritionist in a support van travelling with him to make sure any aches and pains have been dealt with and supplying him with high energy snacks, mostly jam sandwiches and milk shakes. He crossed Skye from Portree to Broadford and over the Skye bridge, Ally’s route from the west coast took him from Kyle of Lochalsh, through Strathcarron, Achnasheen and Garve, to Muir of Ord, Dingwall and MFR's breakfast presenter Ginno Conti caught up with him in Beauly:- The only stops Ally has made are to change his shoes and socks, every six hours or so, as you can’t stop on a long run like this or your body starts to seize up. Maggie’s Highlands is a cancer care charity, one of seven centres in Scotland, offering a programme of practical, emotional and social support across such a large and sparsely populated part of the country. To sponsor Ally, click here and to find out more about Maggie’s Centre, go to www.maggiescentres.org