A Moray man is set to get on his bike for a life-saving charity – quite literally!
Jason Rennie (63), from Buckie, is set to undertake a three-day challenge across the Austrian mountains in aid of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA).
Jason Rennie is set to face the Spyder Grossglockner Challenge for SCAA.
The Spyder Grossglockner Challenge will see Jason – who works in sales for Travis Perkins – join around 400 riders of Can-Am Spyder or Ryker three-wheeled motorbikes over June 11-13 as they traverse the Alpine road that reaches some 2369m above sea level.
Just getting there and back will be a bit of a monster drive for Jason and his Can-Am Spyder, with a five-and-a-half hour trip to Newcastle to get the night ferry the first leg of the voyage, followed by traversing Holland and Germany on the way to the lower part of Austria.
In all he reckons a round trip of 2000 miles – not including the Grossglockner Challenge itself – awaits after he leaves Buckie on June 8.
Jason said: “This is the first time I’ve done a fundraiser like this and also my first time doing the Grossglockner Challenge.
“I chose the SCAA as it’s a very worthy cause.
“They’ve saved a lot of lives, especially across the Highlands and Islands, and provide an invaluable service.
“I also thought it’d be something a bit different from the usual charities people often fundraise for.
“I don’t have a target, I just want to raise as much as I can for them. At the moment I’ve raised about £400 through my GoFundMe page plus about the same again in other donations. I’ll keep the page open until the end of June once I get back.”
He went on to say he was eagerly anticipating taking part in the challenge.
Jason continued: “I’ve been into trikes for about the last 18 months to two years and I’ve heard a lot of talk about the challenge.
“At my age it’ll probably be a once in a lifetime experience, although you never know!
“There’ll be people from all over Europe there so I’m really looking forward to it. There’s a small prize for the most northerly entrant so you never know, I might be in line for that.”
He added that he hoped to add updates on his progress en route on his Facebook page.
First launched in 2013, SCAA run the country’s only charity air ambulance.
Over 2025/26, it is estimated that around £10 million is needed to keep the service in the air.
For more information on SCAA, visit their website at https://www.scaa.org.uk/
Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.