A 100-mile cycle and full-circle moment at the Melrose Sevens

Up bright and early on Saturday 23 May, John Kerr and his friend Jim English clipped into their bike pedals outside The Auchans Bar & Restaurant in Dundonald, and set off to cycle 100 miles across Scotland, finishing at the Melrose Sevens in the Scottish Borders. Close behind was their logistics and back-up man, Mark Torrance, who followed in a support van, ready to help with everything from bike mishaps to mid-ride energy boosts.

The cycle was all about raising funds and awareness for us, but is a story that, for John and his family, began 27 years ago.

Back in 1999, John’s daughter Rachel was just 10 years old and a member of Marr Minis at Marr Rugby Club in Troon. That year, the Scottish Rugby team trained at Fullarton Park where Marr Rugby Club are based, and Rachel was chosen by the Marr committee to interview one of the players ahead of the Rugby World Cup taking place later that year.

That player was none other than our founder, Doddie Weir.

After the interview, Rachel had her photograph taken with Doddie, then was invited onto the team bus to also get a photo with several other members of the Scotland squad at the time, including Gregor Townsend.

Two decades later, Rachel met Doddie again at the Aye Write book festival where he was signing copies of his autobiography. She brought along the photo of the two of them, and Doddie remembered her.

“That was the basic connection to begin with,” John explained.

The idea for John and Jim’s cycle to Melrose first came about in early 2025, inspired by the Melrose Sevens which were to take place in May, and the fixture’s deep connection to Doddie. However, the pair of them soon realised they needed more time to organise the ride, and rescheduled it for the 2026 Melrose Sevens.

And so, planning began in earnest - not just for the cycle itself, but to galvanise a wider fundraising effort.

At the beginning of May, before the ride took place, friends, family and supporters gathered at The Auchans Bar & Restaurant for a fundraising dinner, raffle and auction. With 60 people in attendance and over 30 prizes donated for both the auction and raffle, the evening was a great success - helping push the fundraising total for the challenge to over £15,000.

Two weeks later, at 6 o’clock in the morning, it was time for John and Jim to set off on their 100-mile ride.

Their route took them through Mauchline and Sorn to Muirkirk, from there they carried on to Abington and Broughton via Biggar, before joining the quieter roads along the River Tweed from Peebles towards Melrose.

The duo faced a couple of substantial hills along the way - including a particularly testing 2-mile stretch of climb as they headed towards Abington - but the favourable weather conditions made a huge difference.

“We were fortunate the Gods that day had decided to make it a temperate, calm day with no rain,” John described, “and crucially - a west to east wind, given we were going west to east.”

After six and a half hours of pushing the pedals, John and Jim rolled into Melrose.

“Getting to Melrose in one piece, getting off the bike in Melrose was the highlight of the day!” John declared with a smile.

However, once off the bikes, the day had another special moment in store for John, Jim, and Rachel too.

When the group arrived at the ‘Doddie Club’ tent at the Melrose Sevens, they realised Gregor Townsend (now Head Coach of the Scotland national team) was there for a question-and-answer session.

Rachel still had the original photo of herself with Gregor and Doddie on her phone, and with the help of Foundation staff at the event, the image was shown to Gregor, and he came over to speak with John, Jim and Rachel.

“Gregor very graciously came down after the question-and-answer and we had about 20 minutes with him, several other photographs, and he’s now met the 37-year-old Rachel and the 10-year-old Rachel,” John noted.

For John, the physical challenge of the ride was significant, but the experience and sense of achievement meant much more.

“The cycle itself was something I was a wee bit nervous about, simply because I hadn’t done it before,

“But as an old guy, I’m quite delighted I can still do this sort of thing. Would I do it again? Yeah, but it’s not going to be next week,” he remarked. “But we enjoyed it, and to be perfectly frank, the amount of people who gave us encouragement, gave us donations, have said how much they were pleased to donate to this particular charity – you guys are doing a great job.”

Whilst John jokes about simply being proud to have made it in one piece from Ayr to Melrose - the careful planning, community support and drive to make a difference has raised tens of thousands of pounds for MND research - complete with a full-circle moment for Rachel, meeting Gregor Townsend again 27 years later.

And for anyone considering doing any fundraising of their own for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, John has just one piece of advice: “Plan it properly.”

From training and logistics, to engaging your local community, and everything else in between - taking time to prepare can be instrumental to boosting your fundraising total. So, if you’ve been thinking about planning your own fundraiser, take a look at our fundraising FAQs here, or get in touch with our fundraising team at info@myname5doddie.co.uk - we’re always up for a chat!