Monday, 09 August 2021
Fundraising
A group of rugby fans who got together at the start of this year to take part in the hugely successful Doddie Aid campaign, have joined forces once again, in a move which will see them back out and about, clocking up thousands of miles to help raise awareness for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
More than 5,700 Foundation supporters, all of whom are members of a North & Midlands private facebook group, are set to take part in their very own ‘The North & Midland Autumn Test’ which kicks off on Sunday, August 15th.
A challenge has been set for the group to cover 1,000 miles by road and 200 miles by sea in 20 weeks, either individually or as part of a team; a distance based on virtually visiting the most Northerly, Easterly, Westerly and Southerly rugby clubs in the North & Midlands region.
Morven Mackenzie, who is organising the campaign said the event was just for fun and nice way of bringing everyone back together ahead of Doddie Aid 2022.
She said: “There was such a lovely sense of camaraderie when we took part in Doddie Aid at the start of the year.
“I think for many of us January was the perfect time to get out of the house and do some exercise, especially considering we were very much still restricted in terms of what we could do because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Doddie Aid’s Rob Wainwright and Ian Fraser got everyone really motivated and by sharing updates and photos via facebook we all felt that we were part of a huge team effort. The fact that North & Midlands won Doddie Aid 2021 was of course the icing on the cake!
“As far as this next campaign is concerned, the thinking is that we’ll virtually travel around the North & Midlands region, whether that’s by walking, cycling, swimming, sailing or horse-riding. We even had people roller-skating and kite surfing back in January, and it would be great to see more of those sorts of activities taking place.
“Unfortunately geography is not my strong point so I’m hoping people don’t actually check if the distances are correct, and of course we all know that the most Easterly rugby club is Lerwick not Fraserburgh and that the most Westerly rugby club in Scotland is Stornoway RFC and not Rob Wainwright’s Coll 7s team.
“Let’s just say that for this particular event, the devil is most definitely NOT in the detail!”
The North & Midlands Autumn Test will run from Sunday August 15th to Friday December 31st. Anyone who would like to join the North & Midlands facebook group and take part in the event would be most welcome.
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