Friends and ex-playing colleagues of Scottish rugby legend Doddie Weir OBE joined together to run 5 marathons in 5 days from the 12th – 16th March raising over £25,000 for his charity to conduct research into motor neurone disease.
Weir, who earned 61 caps for Scotland and also represented the British and Irish Lions in 1997, is facing his biggest challenge as he battles the disease, a condition that affects the brain and nerves.
He set up the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation in 2017 after announcing that he had been diagnosed with MND, to help raise awareness and funds to find a cure for this devastating disease.
Mr Weir, whose charity has raised over £8m, was presented with the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in December 2019.
Scotsman Stuart Thom, who now lives in Belfast, has raised over £180,000 for the charity through events over the past four years, and his last event raised another £25,000.
Former Scotland rugby captain, Budge Pountney and Tony Quin, joined Stuart in Belfast as they completed the 5in5 challenge around Belfast, Bangor and North Down. Three other friends completed the challenge in Edinburgh, Sussex and Berkshire before joining Stuart, Budge & Tony for a dinner at the Royal Belfast Golf Club.
“This was by far the toughest event I have undertaken to date, not just physically but mentally” said Stuart.
Budge, who is the rugby Development Manager with Ulster Rugby, said “I was persuaded to join Stuart on this challenge, and once I had agreed I could not let him down, however after the first 6 miles I did question why I had agreed to it, as every step from then on was a challenge”
The furthest both had run prior to this event was 14 miles. The trio was complete when Stuart’s sister in laws brother stepped in for her when she injured her back and could not partake. Tony who lives in Ballymena said, “Even though Budge and Stuart had limited running experience, I only had 8 weeks to get myself fit for the challenge”
The guys were joined by Liz O’Connor for the final marathon on Wednesday 16th, which started at Royal Belfast, then a long out and back finished outside the Dirty Duck in Holywood.
Mr Thom, who is also Chief Executive of Royal Belfast Golf Club, said: “I grew up in Melrose in the Scottish Borders where both Doddie and I played rugby. No-one can fail to be moved by Doddie’s fight with MND and the way that he has turned his focus to raising as much money as possible to help find a cure”
The rugby ‘family’ came together for a celebration dinner at Royal Belfast on St. Patrick’s day with support from big names like former British & Irish Lion Tommy Seymour, Paddy Johns, Louis Ludik, Budge Pountney, David Humphreys and Chris Hollins, who hosted the evening.
“It was the hardest yet most fulfilling event to date”. When asked by Chris Hollins, about the next event, there was talk of swimming the English Channel!
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stuart-thom6
More information about the charity events: Stuart Thom: ceo@royalbelfast.com M; 07913 611 680
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