Trio complete ‘missing link’ of 17,000-mile cycling challenge 40 years later

A Scots trio have completed the “missing link” of a 17,000-mile cycling challenge they began 40 years ago.

Friends Craig Swan, Sophie Trafford and Rona Hulbert reunited for the journey and have now made it over the finish line in Chile as they cycled an 800-mile stretch of their expedition which was impassable in 1985.

The trio had barely ridden bikes before they took on the exhausting charity challenge of cycling from Chile to Alaska just after they left Aberdeen University.

The friends took on the first challenge in 1985 (ACE/PA)PA Media - American Cycling Expedition (ACE)

Earlier this year they decided to return to South America to complete the one stretch of the route they could not do, at the age of 62 rather than 22.

During the original expedition, which they cycled unsupported from Chile to Alaska, they had to take a ferry around a remote stretch of Patagonia in southern Chile.

They could not divert through Argentina due to the recent Falklands War.

After the end of their journey the three friends went their separate ways, but they recently discovered that a rudimentary road called the Carreta Austral had been built through the “missing link” of their expedition and they decided to reunite and take it on.

Mr Swan, who qualified as a lawyer before joining the BBC as a journalist, said it had been a “deeply moving privilege” to finally complete the journey, which is raising money for Maggie’s cancer charity and the Epilepsy Research Institute.

He said: “Forty years is a long time to complete a journey.

“It has been physically hard but there is an enormous sense of fulfilment in completing something we began so long ago.

“The drive for this has come from Sophie and Rona’s personal stories of loss and difficulty but the support we have had from so many people has lifted us all when spirits were flagging.

The latest expedition raised money for two charities (ACE)PA Media - American Cycling Expedition (ACE)

“For me to join my oldest friends to complete this chapter in our lives has been a deeply moving privilege.”

He added: “We are all feeling tired, exhilarated and proud.

“But there is a poignancy too with the completion of the challenge we set ourselves, knowing that this is the end of something that has shaped all our lives.”

The latest expedition took a month, with the trio being accompanied by a support team this time.

Ms Trafford is raising money for the Epilepsy Research Institute in memory of her son Hector, who died suddenly and unexpectedly from the condition aged 13.

She said: “There are two big things that have defined my life, the initial ACE (American Cycling Expedition) cycling trip and the loss of my son Hector.

“For me the physical challenge in this journey has been enormous, there were many times when I thought it was beyond me.

“Fundraising for, and raising awareness about, epilepsy has given me the drive and determination knowing that I have been doing something for Hector.

“This journey and challenge has brought these two strands of my life together.”

An overland part of the route between Chile and Alaska was impassable in 1985 (ACE)PA Media - American Cycling Expedition (ACE)

Ms Hulbert said: “This has been a huge personal challenge for me.

“On our original journey in 1985 we were raising money for breast cancer research.

“Then I was diagnosed with breast cancer myself.

“Having cancer changes you.

“I lost all my confidence after my diagnosis and treatment, so to bring the three of us together again to complete the missing link in our journey has been such a healing process.

“Physically I have been pushed to my limits and reaching the end of this road in my life has been very emotional for me.

“We started our journey 40 years ago young and full of hope and confidence.

“Now we are all older, not the same people we were all those years ago.

“But in these past weeks we have found the same spirit that we had in our young selves and  together I hope we have raised awareness, and money, for these causes that are so close to our hearts.”