A Scottish teenager cycled 3,850 miles across Canada to raise money for starving children in one of the world's poorest countries.
Euan Hunter, a former pupil at CurrieHigh School in Edinburgh, celebrated his 18th birthday during the trek from Vancouver to Halifax, which took him 37 days.
As well as fulfilling a personal challenge, Euan was raising money and awareness for Mary’s Meals, a Scottish charity that runs school feeding projects in 14 of the world’s poorest countries, including Malawi, Haiti and Liberia.
The charity can provide school meals for a child in Malawi for a year for just £6.15, and Euan has raised over £1,000 already – enough to feed 162 children.
“Lots of people have asked me why I wanted to cycle across Canada and to be honest, I’m not too sure myself,” said Euan. “It was a bit of an impulse decision and I just went for it.
"I think it appealed to me because of the adventure, physical challenge and its potential to raise money and awareness for charity. Canada looked like an amazing place too!
"It feels great to be finished, finally allowing the legs to rest a bit, and to know that I was able to raise so much money for Mary’s Meals.”
As well as cycling a gruelling average of 105 miles a day on his flat-barred Specialized Sirrus, Euan found time to publish regular updates for his supporters on Twitter and through his blog at www.euanhunter.co.uk.
Messages of encouragement from friends and family were posted there, alongside a note from world record-holding cyclist Mark Beaumont, which came as a welcome boost, as it arrived just as Euan recovered from a fall. “Congratulations on a great ride,” Mark said: “Keep taking on your dreams.”
Euan is due to start studying mechanical engineering at EdinburghUniversity next month. Has he thought about his next challenge? “I love pushing my body to its limits so I will find something," he said. "For now though, I’m not to sure, although I do have a 24-hour mountain bike race later this year."
You can help Euan with his fundraising on his JustGiving page. To find out more about Mary's Meals, visit www.marysmeals.org.
