Steve’s Clan Complete Loch Ness Etape!
Treasurer and supporter of EGFR+UK, Steven MacDonald, known affectionately as ‘Steve’ to those who knew him, sadly lost his hard fought battle with EGFR+ lung cancer in June 2023. His friendships cast a wide net, and a number of his friends from his home town in Kingussie in the Scottish Highlands and Berkhamsted, where he laid down his family home, cycled in his honour and raised funds for EGFR+UK in the 2024 Loch Ness Etape cycle race in April.
Steve graduated from Glasgow University in 1996 where he studied Politics and Economics. He became an accomplished sportsman and excelled at skiing, curling, running and cycling and the latter became his great love and passion through his life and many strong friendships were created through the sport as a result.
Three of his close cycling friends from Berkhamsted; Daren Brown, Jon Gouldsmith and Ben Edwards, made the trip up to Kingussie to celebrate Steve’s life at his funeral. They met many of Steve’s friends that he had grown up with and, as well as sharing stories of their mutual friend, compared notes on cycling north and south of the border. The offer of cycling and hospitality was of course extended to ‘The Berko Boys’ any time.
A few weeks after the funeral, one of Steve’s friends from kingussie, James Maclean, noticed that entries were open again to register for the 2024 Loch Ness Etape; a 66 mile closed road race around Loch Ness starting and finishing in Inverness and taking in Castle Urquhart, Fort Augustus and other beautiful scenic views along the way. A quick message through to Daren to enquire how interested Steve’s cycling pals from Berkhamsted might be in taking part to remember Steve and raise money for EGFR+UK, met with an even quicker response which was a resounding ‘yes!’.
As the inaugural WhatsApp group was established, twenty one of Steve’s friends had committed to the event and allowed training (and fundraising!) to begin. Not to mention the creation of the team name: ‘Steve’s Clan’.
Steve MacDonald, EGFR+ UK former Treasurer
EGFR+UK was the obvious charity for his friends to be supporting. Steve had been looking for a forum which he could really feel a part of after he was first diagnosed with the rare lung cancer. In EGFR+UK, Steve found a community of wonderful people who support and inspire each other and share medical expertise and their experiences of navigating what life has thrown at them. He enjoyed sharing his knowledge and experience with other forum members too, going to ‘meets’ which he found invaluable (and a little less lonely) to connect with others walking in his shoes. He also held the role of Treasurer to help with the running of the charity.
Needless to say, Sunday the 28th of April 2024 came around very quickly. The Berko Boys arrived by plane, train and Barrie Dallas’ van, who did a great job in ferrying them from the airport into Inverness to register for the race the day before and creating a makeshift bike workshop in his garden so they could assemble and fine tune their bikes.
Due to it being a ‘closed road’ event, the start was an early one on the day. Steve’s Clan were in group B which was scheduled to start at 6am and everyone managed to show no effect of the Guiness the night before and made it to the start of the race without issue - albeit not quite together in one group due to it being tricky to meet up amongst the other record number 5,629 cyclists from 24 countries taking part!
During the early part of the race, the backdrop of Loch Ness was a rare sight with an unusual flat calm and the mist eerily sitting on the surface of which the sun would slowly burn through as the morning went on. By mid point, the riders were in glorious sunshine with all of Steve’s Clan managing to tackle the grueling ‘King of the Hill’ section as they headed back up to Inverness on the east side of Loch Ness.
By the time the first of the Clan were nearing the finish line, Steve’s Sister Lynn and her two children Ellie and Rory (and their fantastic homemade banner) alongside Steve’s Mum and Dad, Ethel and Graham MacDonald were there to cheer them over the line.
The whole Clan completed the event without incident, physically or mechanically! Everyone gathered in the Palace Hotel after the race where we congratulated Trevor Perkins and Barrie Dallas who clocked the best time for those representing the Clan north and south of the border respectively and who were presented with a bottle of Dalwhinnie Malt Whisky each by Graham.
By the time the race was complete, Steve’s Clan had raised £4,172 for EGFR+UK. It was a great way to say ‘thank you’ from Steve’s family including Suzanne, Isabella and Fin and his friends for the support the charity had given him. Given Steve was able to cycle until the very end, including a boys cycling holiday in April 2023, there was not a more perfect way to celebrate his life than doing what he loved best: cycling with his friends from Berkhamsted and Scotland in the Highlands.
James Maclean, friend of Steve MacDonald
The full clan:
James Maclean, Daren Brown, Barrie Dallas, John Gibson, Scott Falconer, Scott Sutherland, Andrew Dunn, Dave Olds, Rory Fraser, Scott Shiells, Russell Dallas, Ross Cunningham, Scott Barclay, Andy Kervell, Ben Edwards, Stuart Macalister, Tim Newman, Trevor Perkins, Jon Gouldsmith, Nick Morgan, Alastair Mackay