In a hospital bed, with a new stoma to get used to and having battled through emergency bowel surgery, Robert Cowie’s body and spirit had taken a battering.

A super fit firefighter who nailed triathlons in his spare time, he had been floored - out of the blue - by Crohn’s disease. He’d lost around a quarter of his body weight and endured surgery first to remove damaged parts of his large and small bowel, and then to tackle an abdominal abscess.

Alone in a hospital room, with Covid restrictions making it even lonelier, his mind began to churn over why life had taken such a dramatic turn and what the future might hold.

Motivation came from an unlikely source: a video sent by friends who had bumped into six time Olympic gold medal winner Sir Chris Hoy. In it, the track cycling legend urged him not to give up and – poignantly – to get back on his bike.

In a couple of weeks’ time Robert will be doing just that, when he achieves what a short time ago seemed impossible and joins hundreds of die-hard cyclists aiming to conquer one of Scotland’s toughest road races, Etape Loch Ness.

Many, like him, have deeply personal reasons behind wanting to push themselves to the limit: there’s the Scots charity boss cycling to raise awareness of MND which is claiming the life of his cardiologist brother, the team of women who have trained virtually in an online cycling class and are now set to meet in real life, countless cancer survivors and others cycling in memory of loved ones.

In a remarkable quirk of fate, the 66 miles cycling sportive which takes participants on a 360° closed-road route around Loch Ness, is being held on April 24 - exactly three years to the day since Robert, 36, from Uddingston, was rushed to theatre for emergency bowel surgery.

That led to a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, and a slow recovery hindered in February last year by a large abdominal abscess which required a stoma.

“I was feeling sorry for myself,” he recalls. “At one point after surgery I was told that I was not to lift anything heavy, not even a kettle.

“I was trying to get my head around the stoma, it was brand new and it felt ‘alien’.

“My mates had done a Glasgow to Edinburgh cycling event, they nabbed Chris Hoy who was there and he left me a message saying hurry up and get back on my bike.

“I was planning to go back to work and to try to negotiate having this stoma whilst carrying out my duties.

“I decided I needed a target. I signed up for the race while I had my stoma and as soon as I got the green light to train I was back on the bike at home.”

Robert, who used to play competitive rugby with Hamilton Bulls, gradually built up his fitness on his spin bike, joining his friends for Zoom sessions.

The stoma was reversed in December, and early last month he was able to return to cycling on the road.

His last outing covered 40 miles, enough, he says, to give him confidence that he can conquer the Etape’s 66 miles course.

The route around the loch starts and finishes in Inverness, and takes cyclists on 900m of ascent. There is a timed King of the Mountain stage, with a 4.8-mile (9 km) climb gaining 380 m in height with a gradient reaching 12% at times.

Robert, who is tackling the course with three friends and aiming to raise funds for Crohn’s & Colitis UK, says he will be approaching the race “nice and easy”, as a marathon, not a sprint – just like his recovery.

“I used to take cycling for granted when I was fit and well,” he adds, “but this event is massive for me because it means I’m back to doing something I would have normally done.

“It’s a bit of my old self back again.”

Crossing the finishing line will also be particularly emotional for many other participants with deeply personal reasons for taking part.

Among them will be Adrian Murphy, chairman of charity MND Scotland, who is aiming to complete a year of challenges in his 40th birthday year to mark what is also the charity’s 40th year, and in the hope of raising £40,000.

He became involved with the charity following his brother Brian’s diagnosis with the condition in February 2019, at age 49.

At the time, father-of-two Brian was a consultant cardiologist at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and a keen footballer. He married his partner Gillian last June in an emotional service which had been delayed due to Covid restrictions.

As well as the Loch Ness event, Adrian plans to undertake the Etape Caledonia in May and Ironman Ireland Cork in August, however his biggest challenge will be the Monster Triathlon in June.

The triathlon takes place over seven days and covers more than 1,000km from Loch Ness to London, starting with a 5km swim in Loch Ness itself.

He says: “My hope is to make a real difference to people living with MND, both today and for those diagnosed in the future.

“Brian is ‘lucky’ to have a great support system around him with friends and family helping out, however not everyone has this.

“We need to make sure no one goes through this devastating disease alone.”

https://www.etapelochness.com/