FOUR members of staff at Dunbar Grammar School have got on their bikes to support a former pupil diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

Eric Fraser and Steven Elms, from the school’s PE department, were joined by Scott Marnoch, Active Schools co-ordinator at the school, and Paul Sutherland, the school’s principal teacher of health and wellbeing, in pedalling 100 miles around East Lothian earlier this month.

The quartet wanted to show their support to champion kickboxer Fraser Riach-Shaw, who was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma earlier this year.

Paul told the Courier they were keen to support Fraser, who has raised more than £10,000 for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity while undergoing treatment.

He said: “Fraser is an ex-pupil and absolutely loved his PE.

“He was a great lad within school and he was always really keen to be involved in sports.

“He was part of the football team and contributed to that and is a mad football fan as well.

“He is an all-round really lovely lad who was a joy to teach and he worked hard within the school.

“We wanted to show our support and make him aware that we are behind him in this difficult time.”

Last month, staff at the school launched their own fundraising initiative to back Fraser, who lives in the town. ‘Dunbar to Troon in June’ – a distance of 97.8 miles – encouraged people from throughout the town to cover the distance by any form of exercise.

Mr Sutherland, who has been a teacher at the school for the last five years, said the staff were keen to do their bit as well.

He said: “When I found out about Fraser’s diagnosis and I saw his posts and stuff online, I reached out to him to say: ‘As a school, we are thinking about you and here to support you in any way.’

“He is that type of boy where he is really positive around the whole situation, which is a really difficult thing to do being so young and being diagnosed with cancer.”

The four teachers, who were joined by Thomas Salkeld, Haddington rugby development officer, for the last 45 miles, met in Haddington with a view to covering the distance throughout the day.

Mr Sutherland, 27, said: “Within the first five minutes we were absolutely soaked to the bone.

“Within the first 10 miles, we had our first puncture. That was coming into Musselburgh and I knew there was Aces Bike Co behind The Brunton. We walked Scott’s bike in and had to get a new tyre because it was blown to bits.

“That was the only hiccup and the rest was plain sailing.”

The cycle was broken down into two loops, with the first taking in Haddington, Tranent, Wallyford, Musselburgh, Prestonpans and Dunbar before returning to Haddington. The second, smaller loop saw the quartet visit East Linton, Tranent and Macmerry before finishing back in Haddington.

Mr Sutherland added: “I know Eric is a pretty keen cyclist.

“He was finding it alright but, for the other three of us, the last 20 miles were a bit of a challenge that’s for sure. Our legs were a little bit sore the next day.”

To support Fraser’s campaign, go to gofundme.com/f/h3ta4-a-cause-i-care-about-needs-help