An Aboyne dentist will run seven marathons in seven days to raise money on behalf of a colleague with bowel cancer.
Roshan Fernandez, 55, will cover a shade over 183 miles in the charity challenge, which starts on May 6 from the front door of his workplace, the Fountain Dental Group practice in Aboyne.
The dentist has already raised more than £4,000 for Bowel Cancer UK.
He was inspired to take on the challenge after his friend and colleague at the practice, David Laidlaw, was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of just 44.
Roshan says: “When he got the diagnosis it was quite shocking, because he’s got two children and so do I.
“I can very much empathise with that so this has really inspired me to do something and to raise awareness of bowel cancer.”
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in Scotland, according to Bowel Cancer UK, and the target of a country-wide testing programme that sends out home test kits to everyone aged 50 to 74.
However, Roshan says that because David is still in his 40s it underlines the importance of people of all ages to look out for bowel cancer symptoms.
“There’s lot of people like David, who don’t have the automatic tests that come in the post and there could be symptoms like gut issues or blood in the urine and stools,” he says. “It’s still quite a silent killer.”
‘It has been the hardest thing I have ever trained for’
Roshan started training for his charity challenge last year, and though he has run multiple marathons before — with a very respectable personal best of 3 hours 19 minutes for the 26.2 miles distance — this has been his toughest test yet.
“It has been the hardest thing I have ever trained for,” he says. “I have lived in terror every day of not training enough.
“It’s the discomfort of day after day clocking up the miles on the legs. I have tried to put in lots of miles. I’m not a professional athlete in any way, and I’m just trying to do something to help someone else.”
He plans to run the first six marathons around the Aberdeenshire countryside, sticking mainly to the former Deeside railway line that passes through Aboyne.
But he will complete the seventh and final 26.2 miles at Leeds’ Rob Burrow Marathon on May 12.
Roshan doesn’t expect any fanfare when he crosses the line, saying he will likely break the tape surrounded by other runners.
But he will take a moment to think of David, and the journey he’s been on.
“It’ll be really emotional for me,” he says. “It’s been the journey, getting to the marathons, and meeting so many people who have been affected by bowel cancer. I’ll reflect on that.”
Roshan’s daughter is to join him for half of one of his seven marathons, while friends are expected to jog along with him for a few miles. However, much of the time he expects to be alone.
“No one’s daft enough to do a whole marathon with me,” he says.
To donate to Roshan’s JustGiving page, click here.