Celebrities and rugby stars complete cycle for MND research in Dublin
Sports stars and celebrities have completed a cycle around the island of Ireland to raise funds for research into motor neurone disease (MND).
The 555-mile cycle set off from Belfast on Sunday in memory of the late Scottish rugby star Doddie Weir.
Weir died of MND aged 52 in November 2022, after years of campaigning to raise awareness of the condition and funds for research.
Scottish rugby star Kenny Logan and broadcaster Gabby Logan were among those who took part in Doddie'5 Lions Challenge, cycling around 100 miles a day for six days.
The husband and wife said thinking of how the 'cruel' disease takes away a person's control of their body inspired them to keep going along the most gruelling parts of the cycle.
There were joyous scenes in Dublin as the team completed the journey, celebrating by popping bottles of pink prosecco and ordering rounds of Guinness.
Among those who crossed the finish line in Stillorgan were ex-footballer Ally McCoist, actor Jamie Bamber, former Harlequins player Mel Deane, and cancer campaigner Iain Ward.
The journey will continue at the British and Irish Lions' 1888 Cup clash with Argentina at the Aviva Stadium, with the cyclists delivering the match ball which travelled along the 555-mile cycle with them.
McCoist said he had a view of the ball at the back of Kenny Logan's bike 'going up every hill'.
He added: 'I know for a fact the one thing about these people over here, they love their sport, they love their rugby, and they love good people attempting to do good things, and I think when they get with that match ball tonight, I think the reception will be absolutely fantastic.'
Speaking to the PA news agency, Kenny Logan thanked the people of Ireland for cheering them on along the way by beeping horns and donating any amount they could.
He said: 'We went to one coffee shop, told her what we were doing. She said 'My uncle died of MD'. She gave us 50 coffees and all the food for free. So it's been amazing.'
Gabby Logan said the final day was 'really physically challenging', as they climbed 1,250 metres in a few hours, but also provided a profound moment for the cyclists through stunning scenery in Co Wicklow.
'There was quite a lot of solitude today, because we weren't going through villages and towns, we were going through beautiful scenery. (It gave) a lot of time for people to think about why they're doing this today, and you can see the outpouring of emotion at the end,' she told PA.
'It's about finding cure and a solution to a terrible, terrible disease which just rips away people and their lives and at the moment, there's no hope.'
Asked about the cruel effect the disease has on a person's control of their body, the couple said it helped get them through the tough parts of the cycle.
Gabby Logan said: 'When you're out there and you're on the bike, and it's tiring, your body's aching, and I think 'how lucky am I that I could do that', you know? So that's why you keep going.'
Kenny Logan added: 'What Gabby said, think 'you can do these things, people with MD can't'.
'The mind is so powerful. If you get your mind right, your body will follow you, and the one thing with MD, you can have the strongest mind in the world, but your body ain't gonna follow you.
'In those dark moments, when you're up the hills, and you're really struggling sometimes, I just think I just want to get off my bike and I was determined not to off my bike because we can move our legs, we can control ourselves.
'So it's been amazing. Everybody has been amazing. It's just incredible.'
Asked what Weir would have thought of on Friday, he said: 'He'd think we're idiots, genuinely.'
He said it was 'amazing' to have Weir's wife Kathy on the cycle on the final day, and to have Doddie's son Hamish following the cycle for the week, who was originally meant to take part but had broken his shoulder.
Gabby said: 'He'd love this now. He'd love what's going to happen next with everybody going to the game tonight.
'He was so synonymous with the British and Irish Lions and loved in this country as (he was in) every country that he went to. Doddie was one of those people that just really resonated with people.'
The challenge has raised more than £557,000 for the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, which Weir set up in 2017, a year after being diagnosed with MND.
Kenny Logan said: 'When he first started the foundation, he was thinking 'how can I find a cure?'
'And very quickly he realised it wasn't about him. He realised it's his job to try and find a cure for the person who will get it today or tomorrow.'
McCoist, while holding a celebratory pint of Guinness, said that they had been well looked after while on the journey.
He said the scenery of the island was a highlight, saying that it reminded of home.
'I'm a west coast of Scotland man, and it's so similar, absolutely beautiful, green – in some places it's almost lunar with the rocks – it was fantastic. The weather we've had last couple of days, beautiful greenery over the Guinness Lake,' he told PA.
'So we're gonna come back, no bikes involved, I'm gonna take the car and we're gonna do a little bit of tour. No bike next time, I can assure you.'
Asked about MND, he said: 'It's arguably the cruellest and most horrible of diseases when you see what it does to you, it eats away at you.
'Big Doddie, what a figure, not just in the rugby world throughout the UK and Ireland, all over. He's just a lovable, big character, and it shows no mercy, the disease.
'You see what it's done to a lot of people, you know, top sports stars, and it doesn't matter who you are, any walk of life, it doesn't pick and choose. It's a horrible, horrible disease.
'I think we're all duty bound to attempt to do something about it. If we can help, no matter how small you might think it may be, you've got to do it, because we have to find a cure for it.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
29 minutes ago
- BBC News
Lions must learn from errors in Pumas loss
Head coach Andy Farrell says the British and Irish Lions must learn "a lot of lessons" from a "disconnected" performance in Friday's 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin as they prepare to embark on their Australian tour. The Lions' hopes for victory in their first game on Irish soil were dashed by a slick Pumas side, who scored breakaway tries through Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz and Santiago Cordero to secure a deserved first win over the hosts at the eighth attempt. Farrell's side travel on Saturday and must regroup in time for their tour opener against Western Force in Perth on 28 June. "We made it a tough game," said Farrell, who was taking charge of his first Lions game."The first and appropriate thing to say is congratulations to Argentina, they thoroughly deserved to win. They capitalised very well on quite a few errors from us, so congratulations and I'm sure that's a big moment in Argentina's history." Bundee Aki and Tadhg Beirne scored tries for the Lions, who were also awarded a penalty try early in the second half, but it was not enough to beat the world's fifth-ranked team. "You can try and throw it all around and say we had plenty of opportunities and we should have done better, but the story of the game is we compounded too many errors and weren't able to put the pace on the game that we wanted to because of that," added Lions travelled to Portugal for a week-long training camp before facing Argentina, but when asked if the squad has not had enough time together, Farrell said he "wouldn't give that excuse". "We need to be better than that. It is what it is," he added."The Lions players are good players coming together. We ask a lot of them and maybe we put too much pressure on the side because it certainly looked like we were a bit disconnected at times. "We'll review what we said we were going to own and we need to make sure we get something positive from that because it's all about how we move forward." 'Some players will be happy, others won't' Given that Farrell was without the sizeable portion of his squad who contested domestic finals last weekend - Ronan Kelleher being the sole exception - Friday's game against the Pumas was a chance for some to stake an early claim for Test selection. And when asked what positives he could draw from the defeat, Farrell said "some people will have done themselves proud" without singling out any players."They'll be hurting for the team because they're all team players," he added."Some players will be happy, others won't and will be dying to get another chance, but look we know where we're at, we're under way so we need to learn a lot of lessons from that." The Lions fielded 14 debutants on Friday and a new captain in Maro Itoje, who described his first outing as skipper as a "spectacular occasion" before echoing Farrell's downbeat comments about the performance. "We gave ourselves numerous opportunities but we weren't accurate enough at times and weren't consistent enough in putting pressure under Argentina," said Itoje. "As we improve our relationships and spend more time together in training and understanding each other's triggers, it'll come. "There are no excuses. We should have been better today but as with other areas of the game, we'll learn and get better together." Line-ups British and Irish Lions: Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Sione Tuipulotu, Bundee Aki, Duhan van der Merwe; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Finlay Bealham, Maro Itoje (capt), Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, Ben Ronan Kelleher, Pierre Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong, Scott Cummings, Henry Pollock, Tomos Williams, Elliot Daly, Mack Santiago Carreras; Rodrigo Isgro, Lucio Cinti, Justo Piccardo, Ignacio Mendy; Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Garcia; Mayco Vivas, Julian Montoya (capt), Joel Sclavi, Franco Molina, Pedro Rubiolo, Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Joaquin OviedoReplacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Boris Wenger, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Santiago Grondona, Joaquin Moro, Simon Benitez Cruz, Matias Moroni, Santiago CorderoSin-bin: Vivas 45Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) and Andrea Piardi (Italy)TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Andy Farrell says Lions ‘won't sugar-coat' defeat to Argentina
Andy Farrell demanded an improvement from his British and Irish Lions when they arrive in Australia after they slipped to a 28-24 defeat by Argentina in Dublin. The Lions lost their opening tour match for the first time since 1971 after their second-half fightback was overturned when Santiago Cordero finished the match-winning try in the 59th minute. On Saturday they head Down Under before facing the Western Force a week later and Farrell is seeking an immediate response to the error-strewn display seen at a sold-out Aviva Stadium. 'We made it a tough game. Congratulations to Argentina, they thoroughly deserved to win the match. I'm sure that's a big moment in Argentinean rugby history,' Farrell said. 'We had plenty of opportunities and we should have done better to convert them, but the whole story of the game is that we compounded too many errors. 'I wouldn't give familiarity as an excuse. We need to be better than that. The Lions are good players coming together. 'We won't sugar-coat this. We need to be honest because if we're not honest, how do we gain trust with each other? 'Losing hurts, especially in this jersey. We need to find the solutions pretty quickly and be honest with ourselves because some good has to come from this. 'Of course we asked a lot of the players and maybe we put too much pressure on the side because it looked like we were a little disconnected at times. 'We'll review what we said we were going to do as a team. We need to make sure we get something positive from this because it's all about how we move forward. 'Some players will be happy and some players won't and will be dying to get another chance out there. We've got to learn a lot of lessons from that. 'We want to see a better all round performance. There wasn't just one thing, it was the compounding of quite a few bits. 'The amount of balls that we threw blindly either on to the floor or to the opposition was a standout. 'The scraps on the floor always seemed to go to Argentina, so there was a bit more fight and hunger from them that we can't accept.' Maro Itoje criticised the Lions' accuracy as his first outing as captain ended in the tourists' first defeat to Argentina in eight matches.. 'It was a spectacular occasion. The fans gave us a glimpse of what to expect in Australia,' Itoje said. 'We gave ourselves numerous opportunities but we weren't accurate enough at times and weren't consistent enough in piling pressure on to Argentina.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
British and Irish Lions winners and losers after Andy Farrell's side fall to 28-24 defeat by Argentina - including one forward who had an outstanding display
After months of anticipation, the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour got off to a false start as Andy Farrell's side were beaten 28-24 by Argentina in Dublin. MailSport's Alex Bywater was at the Aviva Stadium to look at the players who stood out for head coach Farrell and who struggled to get going… Ellis Genge (prop) Genge really put down a marker. He anchored a Lions scrum that had dominance over the Argentinians – no mean feat given the Pumas pride themselves on their work in that area – and was also a marauding threat in the loose. Genge had a great carry in the build-up to Tadhg Beirne's second-half try. He looks like a man set for a big tour. Fin Smith (fly-half) Emulated his grandfather Tom Elliot by becoming a Lion and manipulated the Argentina defence well, creating one-on-one opportunities for his dangerous outside backs. A first look at the 2025 Lions suggested they will play with an Ireland-style pod system in attack. Smith had plenty of forward options to use on short lines, but also out wide. It was noticeable how the Lions backs were always attached to each pod. While Farrell's men were understandably far from perfect, Smith can be pleased with his outing. Tommy Freeman (wing) Scored in every round of the Six Nations for England and was a lively operator here, always looking for work. Farrell wants his wingers heavily involved all over the field and that suits Freeman down to the ground. Quick and powerful in the carry. Will be a key man Down Under. Sione Tuipulotu (centre) Hasn't played much this season and unfortunately, there was a degree of rust to his performance. Dropped one ball from Freeman. It would be harsh to blame a team's defensive struggles on one player alone, but the Lions were breached too often in his 13 channel. Probably better off at inside centre. Will definitely improve on this the more he plays. Luke Cowan-Dickie (hooker) Not a great birthday for the Sale hooker. Had an early try ruled out and struggled at line-out time. Too many of the Lions' throws went awry, with a couple overthrown. Cowan-Dickie did play a part in the strong Lions scrum but he was replaced early in the second half. Line-out didn't improve with Ronan Kelleher on in his place. British & Irish Lions: M Smith 5; Freeman 7.5, Tuipulotu 4, Aki 6 (Daly 60), Van der Merwe 6 (Hansen 60); F Smith 7, Mitchell 5.5 (Williams 50,7); Genge 8 (Schoeman 60), Cowan-Dickie 4 (Kelleher 50), Bealham 7.5 (Furlong 60) (Bealham 80+1,7.5), Itoje (capt) 6.5 (Cummings 72,5), Beirne 7, Curry 6.5, Morgan 6 (Pollock 50), Earl 4
