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.

Westhill man who overcame trauma and tragedy finishes gruelling Italian bike ride

Post Thumbnail

An Aberdeenshire man who has overcome trauma and tragedy through cycling has conquered one of Europe’s most fearsome mountain passes.

Doug McIntosh, from Westhill, completed the Stelvio Pass in Italy – the second highest mountain pass in the Alps – as part of a challenge he set himself following the death of his son earlier this year.

The keen cyclist – who lost an arm to cancer in 1997 – set himself three challenges in memory of 28-year-old Scott and to raise memory of four-year-old grandson Riley.

After ticking off the Ride the North and Big Belter, Mr Mcintosh saved the best until last by climbing the 9,045ft Stelvio Pass.

But Mr McIntosh’s Italian job got off to the worst possible start.

Screenshot of Doug’s Justgiving page

He said: “Last year when I did Mont-Ventoux I took my own bike, which was a bit of a headache, so this time I decided to rent a bike when I got to the Stelvio Pass.

“At Mont Ventoux there were about a hundred bike shops, technicians and all the rest of it.

“But when I arrived at the Stelvio Pass there was one bike shop, and when I went there I soon learned it was closed for the season.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


“I noticed a window was open so I shouted in. When I saw someone there I explained that I was doing the Stelvio Pass the next day but didn’t have a bike.

“She put me in touch with a guy who she said could help me.

“When he showed me his collection, it was about a dozen shopping-type bicycles, a wrecked racing bike, and in the corner, a mountain bike. I took the mountain bike.

“It was about four times heavier than my normal climbing bike.

Well that is my 3 cycle challenges all done and without any drama so I’m really chuffed with the amount of money raised…

Posted by Doug McIntosh on Tuesday, 18 September 2018

“It just put another spin on the challenge, and in the end it was fantastic, by far my favourite of the three events.

“The views at the top are really spectacular, it’s really impressive to look at.”

Mr McIntosh has raised over £5,600 so far, and is keeping the fundraising site open until his birthday on December 18. To donate click here.