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Fair way to go for Badenoch and Strathspey’s favourite ‘driver’





ABOVE: Amazin’ Amazon delivery man Ian Lines is ready to contribute to the country’s biggest golf challenge with his friends.
ABOVE: Amazin’ Amazon delivery man Ian Lines is ready to contribute to the country’s biggest golf challenge with his friends.

Badenoch and Strathspey’s favourite delivery man is determined to deliver some life-saving help to those in the firing line of a deadline disease.

Ian Lines and other members of Kings Golf Club in the Highland capital are planning to go the distance for Prostate Cancer UK this summer with their epic Big Golf Race, the UK’s biggest golf fundraising challenge.

The numbers participating over the past four years has grown from nine to no fewer than 72 golfers.

Ian told the Strathy: “It all tees off at 4am on June 18 in a shotgun start and we will keep going round until every player has finished 72 holes.”

This year, the leading men’s health charity is urging more golfers to take part to help fund life-saving projects like TRANSFORM, the most ambitious prostate cancer screening trial in over 20 years.

Ian and co are raising money to help fund research to find better tests to save men’s lives by taking on the Marathon, which consists of four rounds and 26 miles of walking in a day.

“The initial group of nine were inspired to take part in The Big Golf Race after one of our golf buddies, William Andrew, was diagnosed,” said club spokesman Andrew Stokes. “After our first event we were all devastated when William passed away the day after we finished the challenge.

“This has now driven us to continue growing the event each year, last year we had 37 players, we raised £20k. Our target this year is to try and raise £40k for our event. We believe we are the only golf club in the UK that is undertaking a shotgun start with all 72 golfers starting at 4am and playing continuously for the four rounds of golf.

“We are very fortunate that many local companies and many of our golf clubs in the Highlands have given donations or prizes for our event, which helps to increase our fundraising efforts. We are always looking for more companies to get involved in the fundraising, they can contact the club to discuss it.”

Dr Matt Hobbs, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Over the years, golfers have played a massive part in enabling us to launch research projects like TRANSFORM, which aims to definitively show the best way to screen men and in doing so providing earlier diagnoses, and saving thousands of lives a year.

“Every year we’re blown away by the response to The Big Golf Race, and we’re delighted that it’s now the biggest fundraising challenge in golf. That’s in no small part down to our inspirational army of golfing supporters, who turn out in their thousands every summer to raise life-changing amounts of money.

“We wish Kings Golf Club Inverness, all the best for their Big Golf Race challenge.”

Anyone wanting to sponsor the team should follow this link to choose a player to donate to.


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