Three lifelong Edinburgh friends will climb onto their bikes on September 6 for a 56-mile charity ride through the Campsie hills, turning one man’s cancer recovery into a test of stamina for all three. Steven Walker, Mack McManus and Ian Hooker are taking part in the Tour de 4 2026 set up by Sir Chris Hoy, with Prostate Cancer UK as the cause behind the effort.
Walker said he was struck by Hoy’s own battle with stage four cancer and thought the friends should do something that would count for more than a day out. “I said if the three of us, who've been friends since primary school, can get our backsides on our bikes and do something for Prostate Cancer UK, then why don't we do it?” he said. The ride gives the search term a very current edge: it is a dated event, on a specific course, tied to a cancer charity, and it lands after McManus has already come through treatment and been told he has been fully cancer free since January.
The three men have known each other since Wardie Primary and later Trinity High School, and the bond has given the ride a personal weight that goes beyond fundraising alone. McManus was diagnosed last year after he began waking during the night two or three times and found he had to go to the toilet quite a lot. A doctor visit and MRI scan led to the diagnosis, then radiotherapy, medicines and hospital trips four days on and four days off. Walker said McManus has been fit and healthy his whole life, adding that the diagnosis showed it can happen “totally out of the blue.”
That personal story is what pushed the friends toward the Tour de 4 challenge, but the ride is still a stretch for men who admit they are not major cyclists. Walker said none of them had been huge riders, and while 56 miles does not sound a huge distance, the route includes a fair bit of climbing. The trio, all 56 years old, have still backed themselves to finish the course, with Walker saying they are getting on a bit but remain pretty fit and active and will probably be sore afterward.
They have booked a hotel for the night after the ride so they can head out for beers together and mark whatever they raise for Prostate Cancer UK. The unanswered detail is how much cash they hope to bring in, but the next clear milestone is the ride itself: on September 6, the friends will take on the Campsie hills in Mack McManus’s name, and in the name of men who have not yet had the warning signs taken seriously.
