Glasgow man embarks on West Highland Way e-bike challenge for charity

Simeon Ewing embarked on the challenge at 5am this morning, alongside colleagues Gemma McIvor and Douglas Bryden, to raise money for the British Heart Foundation, and they are hoping they can watch the sunset from Fort William tonight.

The trio are taking on the 96-mile route, which runs from Milngavie to Fort William, on electric bikes after Simeon previously attempted to do the journey within three days on foot but was forced to stop after around 30 miles due to his friends' feet being left ‘in bits’.

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He said: "We came off of that challenge and it’s been weighing on my mind for a long time.

"When we encountered these electric bikes it sparked it in me again that we really could do it and thought we maybe don’t need three days to do it, let's just see if we can do it in 24 [hours].

"Which is just insane.

"But there’s folk that run the West Highland Way in 13-odd hours, the current record for the mountain bike is eight and a half hours."

However, the electric bikes may prove to be a challenge at points as Simeon says the path is "absolutely not" suitable for them.

The 41-year-old said: "The path is very varied, and there are big stretches of open country where you can make some really great progress but there are areas for instance like the east bank of Loch Lomond where it is awful.

"I think mountain bikers call it ‘hike a bike’ because you just have to put that bike on your shoulder and walk’.

"But electric bikes are a wee bit heavier, these bikes all weigh 25kg, so that section is going to be particularly hard."

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Simeon’s brother Damian will be in a support vehicle that will meet the group at various pit stops along the way where they will be able to take care of any medical issues or battery changes.

Simeon, Gemma and Douglas, who all work together at Scottish Assault Courses, set a target to raise £1000 for the British Heart Foundation but have already raised more than £1190.

They decided to raise funds for the charity because each member of the team has been affected by relatives and friends with heart problems or circulatory disease.

Simeon explained: "Heart disease is Scotland’s biggest killer.

"And especially in Glasgow and the surrounding areas, we really struggle with poor diet, not enough physical activity, smoking, all this stuff leads to this being a prevalent cause of death in Scotland.

"But on a more personal level, my mother we just got her out of hospital.

"She went into A&E with a period of atrial fibrillation.

"She suffers from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which means occasionally she will get atrial fibrillation which means her heart is hammering out of her chest and it just won’t stop, and she gets pains in her chest and arms.

"And Doug and Gemma have both got their own experiences as well."

David McColgan, head of BHF Scotland, said: "Our research is only made possible thanks to the generosity of fantastic supporters like Gemma, Doug and Simeon, raising money to power science to save and improve lives from heart and circulatory diseases.

"We want to wish them all the very best for their e-bike challenge and will be with them in spirit for every one of those 96 miles."

Simeone, Gemma and Douglas are being sponsored by Scottish Assault Courses, X-Venture Sports and Root EV.

You can see their Just Giving page HERE.