Cycling sisters are off to royal wedding

CYCLING sisters Kerry and Kirsty MacPhee from South Uist will represent the Western Isles at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding next month.

The siblings, who have established their names at national and international levels of the sport as well as at the Island Games, were ‘totally surprised’ to get the invite to the wedding of the year at Windsor Castle on May 19.

Western Isles Lord-Lieutenant Donald Martin was asked by the palace to put forward suitable ambassadors for the honour.

He said: ‘I am delighted that Kerry and Kirsty are able to accept the invitation for this special event and I am sure they will enjoy the experience as well as being excellent ambassadors for our community.’

Kerry told The Oban Times: ‘It was a total surprise. We’re expecting the official invite to arrive this week. We’re not expecting to be at the top table on the day ... I think we’ll be in the garden! It’s such an honour for us to represent the Western Isles. We will be part of history going to the wedding. It’s really special.

‘Kirsty and I are absolutely honoured to be asked. We are both extremely proud to come from the Western Isles and it is a community that has got behind us in all our endeavours.

‘We very much look forward to the opportunity to once again represent our beautiful islands at the forthcoming royal wedding.’

Kerry, 31, who has taken part in Scottish, British and European cycling championships as well as the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, is still racing at events. At the weekend she took part in the British Series Cross-Country event at Dalby, Yorkshire. Two days a week she works for a renewable energy company in Stornoway when not training.

Kirsty, 28, is a teacher in Dunblane.