Record breaking granny to celebrate 85th birthday on 1000 mile charity cycle challenge

A grandmother from Dumfries and Galloway has set her sights on her latest mammoth fundraising challenge.

Mavis Paterson is currently training to cycle all around Scotland, a distance of 1030 miles. She will celebrate her 85th birthday en route.

She is undertaking the challenge to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support, something she has form in. In 2019, she entered the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest woman ever to cycle from Lands End to John o' Groats.

She raised over £75,000 and was named as a Pride of Britain fundraiser of the year finalist.

Her newest challenge will see her setting off from the Mull of Galloway on Saturday 29 April and she expects to be back after around a month of cycling.

Mavis says she takes on these challenges as a way of coping with the loss of her three children over a four year period.

"I can't go on living my life thinking about them all the time. I do think about them a lot but I've got to face life and take on the challenges which are a huge help to me. The last one I did was wonderful because it took my mind off of the children." It's like therapy" she said.

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