Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aboyne dentist takes on 183-mile challenge after colleague’s bowel cancer diagnosis

Roshan Fernandez will run a leg-sapping seven marathons in seven days to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK.

David Laidlaw and Roshan Fernandez at the Crathes Castle half marathon
David Laidlaw, left, and Roshan Fernandez at the Crathes Castle half marathon in 2018. Roshan will run seven marathons in as many days in aid of colleague David, who has bowel cancer. Image: Supplied by Roshan Fernandez

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.”

Aboyne dentist, Roshan Fernandez, training for the challenge to raise money for bowel cancer.
Roshan said the training has been his toughest challenge yet. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

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 outside the dental practice in Aboyne
Roshan outside the dental practice in Aboyne. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

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.”

Aboyne dentist, Roshan Fernandez, training for the challenge to raise money for bowel cancer.
Roshan has been training hard for his marathon challenge. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

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.