Thousands of Edinburgh residents sign up to mass exercise fundraiser for Doddie Weir MND charity

Residents of the Capital have rallied to become part of Team Edinburgh in the Doddie Aid challenge which began on New Year’s Day.
Doddie Weir is backing his old South team to win the Doddie Aid Challenge which sees districts of Scotland mass compete to collect the most miles over the course of the first month of 2021.Doddie Weir is backing his old South team to win the Doddie Aid Challenge which sees districts of Scotland mass compete to collect the most miles over the course of the first month of 2021.
Doddie Weir is backing his old South team to win the Doddie Aid Challenge which sees districts of Scotland mass compete to collect the most miles over the course of the first month of 2021.

Nearly 3,000 Edinburgh residents have signed up to take part in the Doddie Aid Challenge, which will raise funds for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which will run until the start of the Six Nations on February 6.

The foundation was set up in 2017 by Doddie Weir following his Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis to fund research for a cure to the devastating illness.

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Sporting stars including Ally McCoist, Eve Muirhead, John Barclay and Mark Beaumont have lent their support to the campaign which is the brainchild of Weir’s former Scotland and British and Irish Lions teammate, Rob Wainwright.

Davy Zyw is leading Team Edinburgh in the competition, and was diagnosed with MND in 2018.Davy Zyw is leading Team Edinburgh in the competition, and was diagnosed with MND in 2018.
Davy Zyw is leading Team Edinburgh in the competition, and was diagnosed with MND in 2018.

Edinburgh team captain Davy Zyw was diagnosed with MND in 2018 and last year, along with his twin brother Tommy, cycled the North Coast 500 in just four days raising money for the foundation. Together they raised £150,000 and Davy says he is thrilled to be leading Team Edinburgh in the challenge.

“Doddie was diagnosed a year before I was and has done incredible work in raising awareness of MND and fundraising for people living with the disease and their families, I take a lot of strength from him doing that,” Davy said.

“Last year my brother and I cycled the North Coast 500 in four days to raise money for My Name’5 Doddie so I was ecstatic about being the team captain for Edinburgh in the Doddie Aid challenge this year - I’m thrilled that I’m the only team captain to not be an ex-Scotland rugby pro.”

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The mass participation fundraising exercise challenge sees residents of each area of Scotland sign up to compete with the same goal to raise money and awareness of MND.

To get involved, potential participants should go to the Doddie Aid website to find out how to join their chosen district and also get a free team snood. All exercise miles should then be recorded via a campaign-specific app.

Any form of exercise counts towards a district’s total on the leaderboard, from running to rollerblading, cycling to skiing or just adding up daily steps.

Throughout the event, the captains of each district will be busy signing other high-profile stars in a bid to boost their team’s efforts. Come February 6 the team which has logged the most collective miles will be crowned Doddie Aid Inter-District Champions.

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So far, Team Edinburgh have raised over £62,000 with nearly 3000 participants who have clocked up more than 61,000 miles.

Throughout Scotland, the latest numbers reveal Doddie Aid have around 20,000 people signed up and have received pledges of over £350,000 for the charity.

“It’s a busy month but we’re all working towards the same goal,” Davy added. “It’s a fun and engaging forever moving competition which is perfect at this time as more people look to get some January exercise in, especially in lockdown.”

Those interested in joining the challenge can sign up to be a part of Team Edinburgh on the Doddie Aid website.

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