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Two West Country rugby fans crisscrossed the UK in twelve days and visited every Premiership rugby club to raise funds for the Motor Neuron Disease Association.
Matt Price and Mark Ward took up the challenge of raising money for the charity in memory of their close friend and former rugby club president Simon Adams, who died of MND.
Matt said: “We are doing it because in memory of Simon, who passed ten years ago, and we wanted to do something to continue his legacy and raise a million pounds for charity.
“Every day has been moving. We have met someone who has been directly or indirectly affected by the MND, which kind of understood why we are doing it,” he added.
Simon, who was also a school principal in Plymouth, was only 46 when he died 10 years ago.
He had been diagnosed two years earlier.
One of his wishes was to raise £ 1million to help fund research into the disease.
The couple completed the trip to Plymouth on Saturday 10 October and were greeted by a crowd waving flags and banners.
Speaking at the finish line, Mark said: “It was a very long trip, very hilly, and I certainly feel it today.”
Matt Glastonbury, president of Old Plymothians and Mannemedians Rugby Club (OPM), said: “One of Simon’s great things was not just to raise money but also to raise awareness, so things like this what Matt and Mark are doing are fantastic.
He added: “I think one of his things was that if someone in the future was diagnosed, he wanted to be told that there is a cure as well, and not just that” you have the motor neuron disease and that’s it ‘. “
Throughout their 850 km bike ride, Matt and Mark received a number of messages of support from top rugby players.
Matt from Bristol and Mark from Plymouth have said they hope to raise around £ 15,000 from their bike ride. They also auctioned off Premiership signed rugby jerseys that they collected along the way to help with their fundraising.
Mark said: “I think Simon would be over the moon with what we did, I think he probably would have raised his glass to us.
“He probably would have thought we were absolutely crazy to take on such a task, but he probably would have laughed at us in a great way.”
Motor neuron disease is a degenerative, life-limiting disease that affects the nerves that control movement.
According to the Motor Neuron Disease Association, up to 5,000 adults in the UK are affected by the disease at any given time.
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