A SALTCOATS man is taking on a mammoth Tour de France (TdF) cycling challenge to raise funds to honour a friend he lost at the beginning of the year.

Mark McCann grew up playing football with Mark Tulloch, as part of a successful TASS football team started by their parents, Tommy McCann and Alex Tulloch.

They had great memories travelling the globe together back then, and remained connected throughout their adult lives.

Mark (McCann) commented: “Mark and I had different careers in football but when I got involved in a local amateur team Mark was always on hand to either help out as a player or help raise funds for the team.

“A very genuine person and always there to help. Mark passed away very suddenly this year and it had a profound effect on me. I felt I needed to do something in memory of Mark.”

So Mark has decided to embark on the three-week-long Tour de France challenge, organised by his employers Ineos, to raise funds for men’s mental health charity SAMH.

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The challenge is open to employees, their friends and family from sites all over the world. Currently there are 72 teams competing in the challenge, one of which is Mark and his colleagues from Grangemouth’s C-shift.

Ineos own the Grenadiers who are competing in the Tour de France. In line with this they set up the challenge.

Each team can have 25 team members and need to cover the distance of each stage of the Tour. There is a competition for the yellow, white and polkadot jersey.

Mark explained: “In line with the challenge I’ve decided to try and cover on average 100km per day during the TdF challenge. It has been very tough, balancing work family and other commitments.

“100km is a four-hour cycle and with the wind can be very demanding. However a challenge is a challenge so I just need to suck it up and get on with it.

“It’s is very tiring but to be a winner you need to make sacrifices. I have a local cyclist Barry Webster, who I cycle with and he has been very supportive.

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“I pre-warned my wife Stacey, that the challenge was on and she has been very understanding and supportive.”

When he spoke to the Herald, Mark and his team were progressing impressively with the challenge. He has covered nearly 1,500km after 16 stages, and his team as a whole have progressed well towards their 27,000km goal, around 21,000km so far.

They sit third overall in the worldwide challenge, with Mark 35th individually. The team aim to be top in the UK, which is looking likely as the closest competitor is “miles back - pardon the pun”.

Mark said: “I’m just hoping to raise funds for a good cause. I’m hoping more people can donate as my target is £3k, any donations are very appreciated and goes to a charity that does a lot of work for mental health in Scotland. Our area has had a number of young people pass away unexpectedly this year and it is really sad to see.”

Mark has, at the time of writing, raised around £1,200 towards his goal. Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so here.