Women bikers go 1000 miles for Macmillan

A BIKER cavalcade with a difference is touring Scotland for a cause that's close to their hearts.

More than 100 petrolheads – including several from the Lothians – will start at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, and traverse the country's highways in a charity challenge culminating at George Square, Glasgow on 31 May.

But what distinguishes this motley crew from the usual weekend biker tours is that, to a man, all of them are women.

Dubbed Breast Way Round, the gruelling 1,000-mile all-female tour was the brainchild of Kilmarnock motorcyclist ShirelyAnn Barnes who began raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support in 2007.

Gilly Wilson, 47, from West Lothian, who was inspired to take part by a friend who underwent a mastectomy said: "Everyone who's on the tour has been affected by cancer in some way. We will be wearing mohawk helmets and are targeting about 40,000 this year."