Driving For Doddie

13 January 2020

Garry Cuthbert and his friend Steve Mason are holding a Driving Range Challenge on July 15th 2020 at Alwoodley Golf Club in Leeds, at 12 noon and continuing hitting balls for 24 hours!

Both have their own personal reasons for embarking on this challenge - Garry is raising his share of the sponsorship for My Name'5 Doddie Foundation and Steve is raising his for MS. His daughter is a sufferer and it is therefore a cause close to his heart. They have their own JustGiving pages if you would like to suport them.

Garry explains why he has decided to support the Foundation.

"I played first team rugby for Harrogate for 11 years and county rugby for Cumbria. This was through the 1980s and early 1990s. Kelso, Selkirk, Melrose and Hawick were regular away trips for us. Many happy memories were created in the borders. Rugby is therefore in my blood and despite being an Englishman, I hold 6 debentures at Murrayfield and attend pretty much every international."

"My daughter made me convert to being a Scotland fan (sort of!) so Scottish rugby is now a big part of my life as well. I’m also a member at Archerfield so I spend a lot of time playing golf in Scotland. I met Doddie briefly at a Harrogate rugby dinner a few years ago but only really became aware of MND through the Foundation and its work highlighted particularly at the All Blacks game at Murrayfield 18 months ago."

"I guess the reason we wanted to do something for MND is pretty much down to the Foundation and my interest in rugby and golf north of the border. Additionally, the Rob Burrow situation has been covered very heavily on local TV, Radio and in the press in Yorkshire and that was the final push that Steve and I needed to get involved in doing something."

Why a golf challenge?

Steve is a scratch golfer and Garry plays off 1. They both represent the Yorkshire Senior County team and therefore still play very competitively and successfully. Yorkshire are current English County Champions and along with the old enemy Lancashire they have the two strongest senior teams in the country.

Garry says: "Age and dodgy knees from rugby and football restrict us from running marathons or something similar so we thought 24 hours on the driving range may better suit our age and fitness levels although everyone who has found out what we are doing think we are nuts. I suspect it will be harder than it at first appears."

You can support Garry via his JustGiving page:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/drivingrangechallenge