Inverness Scooter Team in Top Gear for Prostate Scotland

Scooter enthusiasts and charity supporters Kevin Kilgour and team will set off today for #TheDREAMTour challenge to raise funds in aid of Prostate Scotland.  We were delighted to see the team featured on the front page of this week’s Highland News and today in The Inverness Courier.

The event will see Kevin, Kenny, Alasdair and Ed race from Inverness on old reconditioned 50cc scooters in a ‘Top Gear’ style challenge. Taking place in three stages, the friends will race to the Old Man of Storr in Stage 1.  The Stage 2 route will cover the Old Man of Storr to Glenelg and Stage 3 will take them from Glenelg to Inverness.  They set off today with friend Martin accompanying them as support driver.  The team will pitch tents for their overnight stays and return on Sunday 16 May.

The friends began buying the old scooters in November, mostly from online auction sites. The first part of their charity challenge was to find vehicles with engines of 50cc or less, and over the winter they have worked hard to recondition them in readiness for their race.  The team will be racing on a 1984 Tomos, 1990 Tomos Golden Bullet, 1977 Mobylette 40V and a 1973 Honda PC50.  The final line-up of scooters has a combined age of 160 years!

To add extra elements to the challenge for each competitor, points will be given during the event for various categories including Expenditure, Style, and Overall Public Popularity “of the mopeds not riders!” said Kevin, “and negative points will be awarded for breakdowns.”  He added “the purpose of the event is to have a laugh, lighten the mood, improve mental health in the current times, and raise funds for a worthwhile cause.”

As well as fundraising online in aid of our work at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/the-dream-tour the friends have also been documenting their preparations and raising awareness of our cause on their Facebook page ‘The DREAM Tour’ and with videos on YouTube.

Morag Idan, Communications & Supporter Care Officer, Prostate Scotland said “We’d like to say a big thank you to Kevin, Kenny, Alasdair, Ed and Martin for their fantastic initiative and efforts in setting up The DREAM Tour challenge.   Their tremendous support and fundraising are vital in supporting our work to tackle prostate cancer and disease.  We’d also like to thank all those who have contributed to the DREAM Tour venture.  Their support helps us spread the word about the importance of prostate awareness in their community, and also spread the word about our new COMPASS support services available to men with prostate cancer living in the Highlands.  We’ve teamed up with Maggie’s Highlands to offer appointments with a Cancer Support Specialist free of charge; and our Living Well with Prostate Cancer Course starts on 26 May.  We’ve been able to support several men, and their families, in the area.  We’d like to help many more.”

ENDS

For more information contact:-

Kevin Kilgour kevinkilgour@hotmail.co.uk   07825 652878   #TheDreamTour   The DREAM Tour | Facebook

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/the-dream-tour

Morag Idan or Adam Gaines, Prostate Scotland on 0131 603 8660 or email info@prostatescotland.org.uk

 About Prostate Scotland

Prostate Scotland was set up in 2006 as a Scottish charity to develop awareness of prostate disease, to support men and their families/ partners with the disease through providing advice and information and to advance treatment and research into prostate disease.

Its aim is to reach out across Scotland to create greater awareness amongst men and their families/partners about prostate disease and to advance treatment.

It has established an award winning website www.prostatescotland.org.uk providing a wide range of information about prostate disease and treatments, as well as providing information and advice about prostate disease to men and their families across Scotland.

In 2010 the charity won a national award for its impact on community health and in 2013 and 2015 was commended in the British Medical Association Patient information Awards.  In 2017, the Prostate Scotland website was rated as being one of the top 50 best prostate cancer websites in the world out of several thousand by independent website reviewer Feedspot.   Prostate Scotland was awarded Health Charity of the Year in November 2017 in the Charity Champions Awards 2017. Prostate Scotland is a registered Scottish charity No.SC037494

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer amongst men in Scotland, with a lifetime chance of one in ten men developing it[i].

There were over 37,009 new registrations of men with prostate cancer between 2008 and 2018 and 9,782 deaths of men in Scotland from prostate cancer during that period.[ii]. In 2018 in Scotland 4193 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 923 men in Scotland died from it[iii].

Encouragingly survival rates amongst men with prostate cancer have doubled over the past two decades with 84% of men with prostate cancer now surviving it[iv]. Projections by the NHS show that the diagnosis of men with prostate cancer is likely to rise by up to 35% between now and 2027[v].

Prostate Scotland is currently developing a range of support and wellbeing services to help men across Scotland navigate prostate cancer and disease.  It is called our COMPASS project.

As part of COMPASS, last August we launched a support service for men who’ve recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer living in the Highlands.  We’ve teamed up with Maggie’s Highlands to offer appointments with a Cancer Support Specialist free of charge.  Men can also join a free online Living Well with Prostate Cancer Course, which will be run by Maggie’s Highlands each week from 26 May.  More information is at https://www.prostatescotland.org.uk/help-and-support-for-you

[i] See Cancer Incidence in Scotland 2018 Public Health Scotland April 2020 pp21 [ii] See Cancer Incidence in Scotland 2018 Public Health Scotland April 2020, Cancer mortality in Scotland 2018 Public Health Scotland October 2019 [iii] See Cancer in Scotland Public Health Scotland April 2020 and Scottish cancer registry Cancer mortality in Scotland 2018 Public Health Scotland October 2019 p8 [iv] Cancer in Scotland: ISD, NHS National Services Scotland, October 2018 pp 16-21 [v] See Scottish Cancer Registry May 2016 and Cancer Incidence in Scotland (2014), and Information Services Division NHS National Services Scotland November 2015