Dodd1e’5 Gr4nd S7am - Doddies Grand Slam Team
All Roads Lead to Rome:
Following on from the success of the Doddie Cup 555 ride in 2023, former Scotland captain, and Lion, Rob Wainwright has set his biggest fundraising challenge yet with All Roads Lead to Rome 2024.
The Dodd1e’5 Gr4nd S7am Team has been brought together using experienced Doddie Cup riders along with new riders. Roger Baird (ex-Scotland Rugby and British Lions) along with Ian Barr (ex-SRU President) and Rob Boyns (Welsh lead) head up the team. The 30 plus strong team consists from Scotland, Wales and England and will be joined by many guest riders along the route from each of the Six Nations.
The All Roads Lead to Rome challenge allows participants to be creative on how they will get to Rome. The Dodd1e’5 Gr4nd S7am Team route will see them visit all 6 Nations Stadiums, kicking off at Murrayfield on 28th February, stopping at Dublin, Cardiff, Twickenham, and Paris before the final whistle on 8 March in Rome. The team will be taking the Match Ball with them on their ride (usually carried by Rob Wainwright) and so we have additional stop in Monaco where Prince Albert will receive the team and match ball, before presenting it onto Marcello Cuttitta and its final journey to Rome.
Our Team members are representing the entire MND community affected by this, as yet, incurable disease. Since its inception in 2017 by Doddie Weir, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation has committed over £11 million into supporting MND research and maintains that MND is not incurable, it’s just underfunded. Significant strides have been made in MND research in recent years, which is only possible because of the generosity of donors. We want to continue to support that progress and be part of the cure.
With our website and social media channels, we aim to reach far and wide, raising awareness of MND, the work of My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, raising money for this critical research.
Route Summary by Day and approximate distances:
Wed 28th Feb – The Gathering, Murrayfield: Murrayfield to Biggar 50km
Thu 29/2 Scotland – Biggar to Cairnryan 154Km
Thu 29/2 Ireland – Belfast to Aviva 225Km
Fri 1st Mar Wales – Holyhead to Principality Stadium 336Km
Sat 2/3 England – Cardiff to Newhaven 390Km
Sun 3/3 France 1 – Dieppe to Auxerre 372Km
Mon 4/3 France 2 – Auxerre to Grenoble 400Km
Tue 5/3 France 3 – Grenoble to Monaco 364 km
Wed 6/3 Italy 1 Monaco to Livorno 399km
Thu 7/3 Italy 2 - Livorno to Rome 300km
With the exception Cardiff and Monaco, all stops and “sleep” will be in rugby clubs hosting us along the route.
On 1st February, there is a fundraising dinner in Abertillery RFC and Holiday Inn Cardiff have donated rooms for us all to stay in.
In Monaco, we have a date with Prince Albert at the Palace on Tues 5th March, followed by a sponsored dinner by Levmet.
Marcello Cuttitta, Italy Rugby legend will be presented with the match ball in Monaco and has been supporting the team’s arrangements for Italy.
Team information
Out team:
Team Ambassador : Roger Baird
Team Co-Captains : Ian Barr and Rob Boyns
Cyclists: 16
Support Crew: 12 (inc. 2 who will do some cycling)
Media: 3
Vehicles: 4 Ford Tourneo (supplied by Your Ford Centre), RV (Glenn) and Navarra (Ian)
Along the route we will be joined by legends / teams led by the likes of Paddy Johns (ex Ireland), Stuart Thom, Carl Hogg (ex England), Marcelo Cuttitta (ex Italy). As routes and engagement with Clubs are being finalised, we will be finalising much of this to share as we go.
The challenge:
The team will cycle in 4 pods of 4 cyclists. Over some stages the pods will ride in relay formation, in others by leapfrogging. The biggest risk in the early days of the challenge is missing a ferry or the ferries not running. Once on French ground time is against us to reach Monaco for 4pm. Over these parts the team will leapfrog to ensure all km’s are covered.
Engagement:
Our Team is not just about the cycling and reaching Rome.
Firstly, we want to create awareness of MND and the work of the Foundation. We met with Professor Tom Gillingwater at Edinburgh Medical School in December. He spoke passionately of his ambition to cure MND, that its not impossible – just underfunded. We met his team who in turn explained about the research work each of them were focusing on, the challenges they face in their work.
The biggest challenge for them is funding. Without fundraisers doing mad challenges there is no money for the foundation. No Foundation. No Foundation = no funding. No funding = no research. No research = No cure. Its simple really.
Secondly, through Wales we will engage with some schools and speak about MND, what it takes to work as team, to inspire the children. We are creating a schools education pack for teachers to use with their classes in preparation for the visits and for those we won’t get to. This will also be translated into Welsh.
Finally, encouraging everyone to be involved. Currently Doddie Aid is on the go and the encouragement to get up and move, post Christmas and raise some cash for MNDF. Our team has a home challenge for anyone who wants to join in – Race 2 Rome. Get on a static bike / swim / row whatever over 3000kms and try beat us to Rome. There will be prizes! Our first couple of places to engage in this is a special needs High School in Falkirk (Carrongrange High School), who will complete the challenge on specially adapted bikes, in the pool and on paddle boards. The second is a nursery teaching children to ride bikes!! They will engage all staff, parents and children and complete the miles. Its turning into something really special.
Media:
We have a main media meeting on Tuesday 23rd to discuss more detail on this.
From now until 28th February we aim to put bio’s of all our team out on facebook (linked to website), and sponsors information too.
Training footage and other nonsense is always good and will provide entertainment at a weekend.
Linkedin – tends to be more informational.
Instagram – graphics created by our rider Sean Hadden and sharing of info.
Tik – tok – lesser used more likely during the ride
Twitter – some posts and sharing of like minded topics.
During the ride we will put out a schedule for the day each morning and content from the day each evening. There will be tracked updates of the day’s route and plenty of fun pictures and shout outs to sponsors and the Clubs supporting etc through the day over the various channels.
We will have drone’s flying (all being well) and TV prod co filming footage as we go.
Sponsorship:
The team are supported by many Companies and individuals, which can be found on the website.
The main Team Sponsors are CEF, Your Ford Centre and VSN.
Communications:
Updates are regularly output through our website, facebook, twitter and linkedin channels