Doddie Weir’s Wounded Lions enjoy warm welcome in Jedburgh

The Wounded Lions 500, a team of current and former rugby stars, cycled 500 miles in 48 hours from London’s Twickenham to Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium to deliver the ball in time for the Scotland v England Six Nations match.

By doing so for the second time, they’ve raised £100,000 for Doddie’s motor neurone disease research charity, the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, and 40tude, a colon cancer research charity.

Led by former Scotland captain Rob Wainwright, the cyclists crossed into his homeland during the early hours of Saturday, battling high winds at Carter Bar to arrive in Jedburgh for a well-earned rest around 5am.

There they were welcomed by Jedforest Rugby Club president Paul Cranston, vice-president Ali Campbell and coach Gavin Kerr, the last of whom got on his bike for the next stint to Carfraemill, near Lauder.

Mr Cranston, who helped provide tea and tray-bakes for the riders in Jedburgh, said: “The team was joined at Riverside by a lot of guest riders who supported them on to the next stop at Carfraemill.

“We presented them with a cheque for £500 seeing as it was the 500 mile challenge. That money was collected with Doddie in mind at the last staging of Riverside Rock, so this seemed an appropriate time to hand it over.”

The 30-strong peloton was met by Doddie at Carfraemill Lodge before taking on the final leg over Soutra to the capital, arriving in time for Scotland’s Calcutta Cup defeat.