Stockport man who felt ‘helpless’ after losing dad to a brain tumour cycles from home to Singapore with best friend

On their mammoth cycle from Stockport to Singapore, a man who lost his dad to a brain tumour and his friend of 10 years have faced a pack of wild dogs, heat exhaustion and bouts of food poisoning, finding refuge in the kindness of strangers as they aim to raise £5,000 for charity.

Kris Tan, 26, and his friend Will McKenzie, 26, set off from their hometown of Stockport, Greater Manchester on Monday May 5 this year.

Since then, they have cycled through the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and on the 122nd day of the trip, they’ve made it to Kyrgyzstan, some 4,500 miles from their starting point.

Impressively, Kris and Will had not done any long-distance cycling before embarking on their challenge, in fact, Kris did not even own a bike.

Despite that, they are eating up the miles through lush European landscapes and demanding Central Asian desert, and they’re more than halfway to their fundraising target for Brain Tumour Research and It’s Time.

“For me, the journey was about proving to myself that I was able to do something after experiencing grief,” Will, who lost his dad to a brain tumour in 2023, told PA Real Life.

“The further away from the date of the bereavement, the less receptive people got with me, and I was feeling like I was a failure, like I wasn’t able to achieve anything.”

Will was just 23 when his father died, making him one of the first of his friends to experience parental bereavement. Despite “just trying to live a normal life”, his grief left him feeling “very vulnerable and lonely, and you lose some friends because they don’t want to deal with the awkwardness of you being upset”.

“I felt pretty helpless,” Will added.

“I spent most of my time, as an outlet, just going out in nature, spending time going hiking, swimming and bike riding, stuff like that.

“Then, I was on a hike with Kris, and he turned to me, and he just goes: ‘Right, do you want to cycle to Singapore, then?’ Just out of nowhere, like on a whim…”

The challenge, Will and Kris hope, will help raise vital funds for two charities close to their hearts: Brain Tumour Research and It’s Time, a charity which supports young adults who have experienced parental bereavement.

Will did not know about the work that It’s Time does when he was in the throes of grief, but he wishes he had – and he hopes his fundraising will also help raise awareness of the charity for those who need their support.

As for Brain Tumour Research, he has seen first hand the incredible work the charity does, and hopes to support their research into the disease that took his father by raising as much money as he can.

“It’s a very underfunded and under researched disease,” said Will, who feels “very passionate that this needs more funding and research”.

“With my dad, they did these incredible trial drugs, which helped him so much and extended his life. So you can directly see the amazing impact that that work’s doing.”

Despite the fact they hadn’t done any long-distance cycling before, their route will span some 5,500 miles, with some segments happening by rail or air due to tricky border crossings and budget constraints.

When Will spoke to PA Real Life, the pair were in Kyrgyzstan, where they’re spending two weeks to rest, work in a hostel and make some more cash for the rest of their trip. Kris had fallen victim to a dodgy stomach after his traditional Kyrgyz dinner of horse meat, though Will’s vegetarianism had thankfully spared him that unpleasant ordeal.

Food poisoning hasn’t been the duo’s only challenge, however. In Germany, a potentially catastrophic cycling accident put Kris’s bike out of action after he crashed head-first into a bollard, evading a car door that swung open in his path.

Thankfully, he was uninjured, but his bike’s frame was irreparably bent and he had to source a new one, spending precious time – and cash – on repairs. Just outside of Budapest, Will lost a pedal from his bicycle, and had to cycle on one pedal for around 16 miles to sort himself out with a new one.

However, far worse than any bike mishaps were the pair’s encounters with wild dogs, Will said.

While they were cycling through Bulgaria, Will and Kris had set up camp near a restaurant. All seemed to be going well, until they found themselves surrounded.

“I set my hammock up, drifting off to sleep, and a dog jumps and bites my hammock near my head,” Will remembered.

“I turned on my torch, and we’d been surrounded by a pack of wild dogs. They were barking and going crazy at us.

“I set up my tent, put it right next to Kris’s, and we made a shield of our bikes leaning up against our tents, pots and pans by the entrance, and cuddled up in our two tents until sunrise came. As soon as it was sunny, the same dogs were just asleep around us.”

Thankfully, they came away unscathed – if a little rattled – but having had to escape wildfires in Romania and survive heat exhaustion in Turkey and Uzbekistan, which made Kris sick and Will faint on the side of the road, the pair feel ready to face whatever the rest of the trip throws at them.

The kindness of strangers has, however, been a welcome reprieve from the challenges. From getting treated to refreshing cold melons on the roadside in Uzbekistan, to being offered beds for the night by people who defied language barriers to help, Will and Kris have been blown away by people’s generosity.

Despite having loved the opportunity to visit The Stans in Central Asia, they’re both excited for the next leg of the trip which will take them through Thailand, where Will is looking forward to the “amazing food and beautiful beaches”, down to Kris’s birthplace in Malaysia, and on to Singapore.

Will said cycling from his hometown to his birthplace will be a “momentous achievement” for Kris.

“We’re going to meet up with his dad and his dad’s friends, and so I think for both of us, that’s exciting for different reasons,” he said.

“It’s quite momentous for Kris, but also for me, I get to experience Malaysia so authentically, being with people from there, going out to all the local spots and eating incredible food.

“Penang is known as one of the best places for food in the world.”

Follow along with Will and Kris’s journey on Instagram @stockport_2_singapore, and find their fundraising page on JustGiving here: https://www.justgiving.com/team/stockport-2-singapore