A MAUCHLINE-BASED architecture company is well on its way to raising £30,000 for three special charities after completing 24 hours on a tandem bike.

The team from Stairhill Architecture Ltd and their family and friends cycled from Friday into Saturday on the two-man bike as part of their £30k for 30 years challenge which aims to raise £1,000 for each year they have been in business.

Pedalling for Ayrshire Hospice, Cancer Research UK and MS Society Scotland – causes which are very close to the heart of staff – the group managed to cycle the equivalent of their office to Birmingham and had a real laugh in the process.

Alistair Mair, Managing Director at Stairhill Architecture, said: “After that weekend there we’re sitting on £22,000 so we’re getting closer to the target.

“We were initially talking about doing Land’s End to John O’Groats but it’s a lot of time, effort and money for what it is. We decided to do this instead and thought folk could guess how far we were going to cycle, just so others could join in to help spread the word.

“It was fun and challenging but not too gruelling. Some folk hadn’t been on a bike for years but were very keen cyclists.

“Family, friends, folk from the charities and folk that sponsored us got involved so it was a good mix. The hardest bit was getting people to come out in the middle of the night.”

He continued: “We started off at Prestwick airport and on the cycle path into Troon. We did have a set route so that people could come back to the same meeting point but people started taking different routes. Folk took a few wrong turns and some even ended up on a golf course, but we all got back in time for the next round of people. We finished up at Barassie Beach.

“The beauty of it is that it was only an hour at a time so people weren’t having to stay up all night to pedal. I was supposed to pedal but I ruptured my achilles a few weeks ago so my job was fixing bikes that broke down. I got a phone call at 4.30am to say a bike had broken, it was quite concerning, but it got fixed and I was very impressed as the old tandem did well to last 24 hours.”

Alistair previously told the Chronicle that his father-in-law suffers from MS and that he has “seen how challenging living with the condition can be” so is delighted that the funds will go to such a worthy cause.

The team thanks MKM Kilmarnock, TH Jenkinson, The Coo Shed, Mungo Taylor Haulage, CD Plumbing, Roof Profiles, Rural Finance, Howdens Ayr, Ramsay and Jacksons Ltd, A1 Ironmongery & Plastics Ltd and ACS Prestwick Ltd for their support. Visit https://bit.ly/3r8jKU8