A Stirling salon owner and her well-kent clipper colleague are racking up the miles on a gruelling challenge for a pair of good causes.
Nicki Regan, who owns the Zoo Hair and Beauty salon in the city centre, has teamed up with hairdresser pal Raymond McKenzie for a special effort which has already seen them scale Ben Nevis on Sunday - before taking them to the gruelling West Highland Way next month.
The pair - who have christened themselves as the ‘old boy and the fat chick’ for the effort - have already raised £1,800 for the Catherine McEwan Foundation and the Team Jak charity after completing the trek up the mountain.
With the preparation now underway for the four-day walk, Nicki says the challenge was an effort to replace regular fundraising events for the good causes which have been affected by the pandemic.
Nicki said: “We’ve been talking about doing something for a while because we usually have a charity event that we organise but that has been difficult last year and this year due to Covid.
“We did a food drive at the beginning of the year for local shelters but we wanted to do something for Catherine McEwan and Team Jax and we came up with something fitness wise because we are both not particularly fit.
“Raymond is the old boy and the fat chick is me, so it’s just a bit different and maybe something that people wouldn’t have been expecting us to do.
“Raymond has also been cutting hair in Stirling for 50 years this year and so it was also a bit of a marker of that.
“Anyone who knows him knows he brings hilarity to anything so actually there was a lot of laughs up the mountain, although the way down was really tough.
“The time aspect of training to be able to walk for eight hours a day is probably the toughest part; the salon is open seven days a week so I need to be on hand for that so it’s been hard making the time but it will all come together.”
The West Highland Way event is being run by the Christine McEwan Foundation itself, which supports people living with Crohn’s and colitis access better treatment, as well as funding improvements in healthcare around inflammatory bowel disease across Scotland.
Meanwhile, Team Jak aims to provide support to children and young people up to the age of 25 living with cancer and related illnesses, as well as their family and other loved ones.
Nicki added: “Both of the charities are similar in what they do in terms of helping children and families so that has been a real focus.
“A lot of people have really been getting behind us and we’ve had loads of positive messages on social media; the amount of support and well wishes we’ve had from people has actually been brilliant.”
To donate to Nicki and Raymond’s efforts, visit their fundraising page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/nickiregan1.
