A Nottinghamshire doctor is marking his retirement by undergoing an 880 mile bike ride to raise money for the Intensive Care Foundation charity.
Father of two, Ian Farquhar, is attempting to cycle from John O’Groats in North East Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall.
The 60-year-old from Bleasby is aiming to finish his course in 96 hours, beginning at the end of June.
Iain worked as a consultant in the Adult Intensive Care Unit at the Queen’s Medical Centre for 21 years and has seen the unit grow from nine beds to 41 in that time.
The Intensive Care Foundation (ICF) is a UK charity associated with The Intensive Care Society which helps to fund individual projects as well as providing bursaries for further research.
Being a former intensive care worker, Iain has faced his own troubles in the field and is hoping that the money he raises will prevent people in the future having the same problems.
I have found research in critically ill patients too difficult to do for a number of reasons, but I know that good clinical research is the only way to improve the outcome for critically ill patients.
Iain Farquhar.
He added: “Given my own inabilities in this regard the only way I can support research is to try to generate funds to support others more able than myself to get this research done.”
Iain hopes that the bike ride can not only raise money for the charity but raise its profile as well.
Iain knows the challenge that awaits him is not something to be taken lightly, he said: “I’m not confident of finishing the ride.
“Though I feel that I’ve trained harder than I ever have before, this is also harder than anything I’ve done before so I would be a fool to be confident. It will be brutally difficult.
If I knew I could do it then it wouldn’t really be a challenge.
Iain Farquhar.
“I retired in May and was able to spend 3 weeks in Mallorca training, that has been the most important part of my training. I am now ‘tapering’ and hoping that all my fitness isn’t draining away.”
When he undertook the challenge, Iain set himself a target of £10,000 to raise for the ICF. So far he has achieved £4200 of his goal which he is hoping will continue to grow.
The now retired consultant was thankful for the people that had helped him prepare for the expedition, he said: “I’ve had enormous help from a couple of friends, Martin Done and Julie Stone. In addition I’d like to thank Gail Fearn who has lent us a camper van when both vehicles that had been offered to us as support were withdrawn.
“In addition I’d like to thank my support crew, James Storr, James Bright, Peter Davidson and my daughter Alix Farquhar who will hopefully help me get through what will undoubtedly be a very tough few days.”
If you would like to donate, please visit Iain’s page at https://www.justgiving.com/Iain-FarquharJOGLE and visit his facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JohnoGroatstoLandsEnd for more information.
