Jackie Bird and Sir Tom Hunter lead thousands on annual charity Kiltwalk

By ELYSIA TAYLOR-HEARN FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL Published: 19:40, 26 April 2026 | Updated: 19:40, 26 April 2026 Sir Tom Hunter and Jackie Bird led thousands of Scots on the annual Kiltwalk yesterday. The duo donned matching tartan kilts to tackle the gruelling 28-mile walk from Glasgow to Loch Lomond alongside 14,000 others. The day before, a further 6,000 people had also hiked from Clydebank to Balloch, raising a combined £4million for 1,111 Scottish charities. Mr Hunter told crowds: ‘You good folks got out of your beds this morning to be part of something that has become a fantastic movement for Scotland. ‘You’re here because of someone you know, or a charity you care about, and you’ve chosen to help. That, in my opinion, is what makes Scotland the greatest wee country in the world.’ Helped along by the spring sunshine and supportive cheers from onlookers, the selfless Scots marched in aid of small and large charities like the Beatson Cancer and Glasgow Children’s Hospital. Sir Tom Hunter and Jackie Bird lead the way as the walkers set off Smiles in the sun as these Kiltwalkers prepare to set off  The Kiltwalk is expected to raise millions for charity 770 walkers also chose to support Sir Chris Hoy’s Tour de 4 campaign, which supports cancer charities across the UK. The show of support for the Olympic champion, who has stage 4 prostate cancer, comes six months after the Edinburgh leg of the charity walk raised a further £95,000 for Hoy’s Tour de 4. Speaking a decade after his first Kiltwalk, Sir Tom revealed that over ten years, the annual fundraiser has generated £62 million for over 4,400 charities. Of this, £48 million was raised by 240,000 walkers, while £14 million was donated by the businessman’s The Hunter Foundation. Sir Tom also announced his own ambitions for Kiltwalk to reach £100mil of funds in the next five years, to ‘be there’ for Scottish charities during economically challenging times. Ahead of the event he stressed: ‘The need has never been greater and Kiltwalk is one of the few remaining events still enabling fundraising to go ahead.’ No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.