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Fundraisers aim to cycle length of UK to Sumburgh in memory of colleague

TWO fundraisers have begun a 1,000 mile cycle from Land’s End up to Sumburgh Airport in memory of a late colleague.

Rob Thick and Hadley Gibson are cycling up the UK to Shetland.

Rob Thick, from Prestwick and Hadley Gibson, from Carlisle, are raising money for Prostate Cancer UK, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan.

It comes in memory of their colleague Kieran Clark, who died at the age of just 38 in November. He worked as an air traffic control engineer for NATS.

The pair, who expect to reach Sumburgh Airport on 10 July, said: “Kieran was someone many of us worked alongside, shared good times with and his loss has been deeply felt by a huge number of people.”

They said Land’s End at the bottom of England was the country’s most southerly air navigation beacon, with Sumburgh being the most northerly.

The fundraisers also said that before Clark passed away, his male colleagues from the NATS outstations team had PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) tests to check for prostate cancer.

Unfortunately, another teammate – Paul Graham from Prestwick – had their test come back positive having had no symptoms at all.

As a result Graham has had surgery to remove his prostate, and feels that Clark was essentially “able to save his life”.

People can donate to the fundraiser, which has raised more than £8,000, here.

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