Edinburgh News, 9th July 2019
Ben Forsyth had a cardiac screening in 2013 which revealed an irregularity in his heart, leading to him being referred to the NHS. In May of 2015, after suffering with breathing problems, he had an MRI scan which led to the discovery that he had arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC); a progressive and incurable disease of the heart muscles. A keen cyclist, this discovery meant he had to stop and live a less athletic life. However, despite this, Ben passed away last year from a sudden cardiac event.
Now, his father, Keith Forsyth, and friend, Hamish Carrick, are to take on an extreme version of The Nation Three Peaks Challenge in his honour and to raise money for charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). Normally, The Three Peaks Challenge has participants climb the highest peaks in Wales, England and Scotland – Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis – with a driver taking them between each mountain within 24 hours. However, Keith and Hamish’s version of the challenge will see them cycling between each mountain as well, in a journey of 463 miles with 9000 metres of climbing in total to be completed in 48 hours.
They aim to raise money for CRY so that other young athletes might benefit from their potentially life saving heart screenings. “When I first came up with the idea I was looking for something which was a real proper good challenge,” said Hamish. “ A friend had raised money for Ben and for CRY by cycling the West Highland Way and it raised a lot of money and it was really nice to see friends and families coming together and helping each other through the struggles we were all facing.
“I’ve cycled for as long as I can remember and I used to race with Ben, we first met when we were 14 in the Edinburgh Rode Club as teammates, so it was only natural to do a cycling focused challenge.”
Ben’s dad, Keith stated : “When Ben passed away we had a collection for CRY at his funeral and that kicked things off with the fundraising. We opened a memorial fund and have been raising money to put on cardiac screenings locally. For every £5000 raised we can ask CRY to screen 100 young people. At the moment, we are running two dates for screenings on the 10th and 11th of August, but the 11th is fully booked and we are hoping to put on more.”
So far, the two cyclists have raised almost £1,800 and are hoping to raise as much as possible before they begin their epic journey on Friday. Read More
