Published: Thursday, 25th June, 2009 6:55am

Rugby duo cycle Scottish coast for injured team-mate

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TWO big-hearted rugby players are to tackle one of the biggest challenges of their lives when they cycle 1,000 miles around the Scottish coast in tribute to an injured team-mate.

Robert Ritchie and Marc McEwan, from North Berwick, decided to mark their 30th birthdays by raising money for a rugby charity providing support for former North Berwick RFC captain and long-term friend Jonny Mitchell, who was seriously injured in the first game of the 2004 season.

Jonny suffered irreparable spinal injuries which left him paralysed from the neck down at just 24.

'Jonny"s injury affected all the guys at the club,' said Rob, the best man at Mr Mitchell"s 2002 wedding. 'It upset the club greatly and we wanted to do something for the charity that helped him and his family.'

The pair are cycling for "Hearts and Balls"– a charity whose ethos to "help rugby help its own" is exercised by providing financial and emotional support as well as advice to players and families of players injured on the pitch.

They will leave North Berwick on July 15, cycling for seven to 10 hours a day, and pedal up the east coast to John O"Groats, – taking in St Andrews,

Aberdeen, Fraserburgh, and Inverness – before travelling across the top of the country and heading south along the west coast, then towards Callander and eventually to the finish line at North Berwick.

The duo expect to complete the circuit of the Scottish coast in just nine days depending on the ferocity of the weather.

'Obviously it"s going to be tough but we are looking forward to occasionally stopping off and enjoying the scenery,' said Rob, a Standard Life fund administrator.

'The way training has been going we could make it back earlier than July 24 but when the wind is up it"s like cycling into a brick wall,' he said.

Rob added that his cycling companion Marc"s background in the paratroopers and the fire service did not necessarily mean he had the upper hand in the fitness stakes.

'Marc left the army a few years ago now and I think he has put on a few pounds since then,' he said with a wink.

To support the duo visit www.justgiving.com/robandmarc