Former NUSU Athletic Union Officer embarking on 500-mile cycle challenge for motor neurone disease charity

Doddie Weir made 61 international appearances for the Scotland national team, represented the British & Irish Lions and also played for the Newcastle Falcons. He was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND) in 2016 and sadly died in 2022.

An avid Scottish rugby fan since he was young, Fergus was hit hard when Doddie died and quickly got involved in activities organised by the foundation. This March, he’ll be joining rugby fans around the world embarking on cycle challenges to Rome ahead of the Scotland v Italy Six Nations match, with a combined goal of raising £1 million for motor neuron disease research.

We recently caught up with Fergus to find out more about his fundraising and to reminisce on his time at Newcastle University.

Hi Fergus, can you introduce yourself to your fellow alumni first of all and tell us a bit about your Newcastle University experience please?

Hi! I lived in Newcastle from 2017 to 2022, first as an undergraduate Politics student and then as part of the Sabb team at NUSU. As a fresher, I lived in Windsor Terrace which was super close to the Politics building, and then I later moved to Jesmond with friends I met through rowing.

The rowing programme at Newcastle was definitely a key factor in my decision to study here, and it just happened that the Politics modules I heard about through Open Days were also really interesting too! Plus, being just an hour and a half away from home in Edinburgh was super handy – if I had any washing or anything I wanted to take back it was only a quick train ride away.

I bet your parents were thrilled about that! What are your favourite memories from your time at Newcastle?

I had to actually repeat my second year because of illness, and then my studies were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic too, so my last few years at Newcastle were challenging. What got me through it all was the Boat Club. Rowing and the friendships I made with fellow rowers gave me something to come back to Newcastle for during lockdown and meant I could get outside and see faces (albeit from a safe distance!).

After my illness, I swapped from a rower to a coach at the Boat Club. Being on the water on long summer days after exams had finished and watching four boats side-by-side, racing each other was pretty awesome – particularly once we’d been through selection and were building up to one of the big events.

When I moved to Bayswater Road in Jesmond with friends I made through rowing, we began a tradition which is still going strong today. Each 25 January, we get together and celebrate Burns Night together, which is so special. We live all over the country now, so it’s great to have an opportunity to reunite! This year is our sixth annual Burns Night Supper.

After you graduated from your Politics degree, you stayed on campus as NUSU’s Athletic Union Officer. Can you tell us a bit more about your experience as a Sabb?

I joined the Sabb Team at a really interesting time for our student community. It was the first academic year when everyone was back on campus after lockdown, so I helped our 60+ sports clubs restart their activities and helped get the BUCS programme up and running again.

One of my proudest moments of that year was helping the Wheelchair Basketball Club get established, and it’s great to see them now have 2 or 3 teams and performing so well nationally. And I also worked with my counterpart at Northumbria University to restart the Varsity competition which was class – not to mention we beat them in the first year of restarting!

It’s so great that these clubs and programmes are still going strong now too for our students! So where did life take you after Newcastle?

Initially I completed a Master’s in Sports Journalism at St. Mary’s University, and I’m still based in Twickenham now working for British Rowing. I’m the Digital Editor of their new indoor rowing platform, working to create a real home for indoor rowing with training plans, techniques, the latest news and advice. Sport is my passion so being able to work in this field is really great.

It’s so lovely to see our alumni community supporting current students. And that’s not the only involvement you have in fundraising. Tell us about your upcoming challenge for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.

I’ve always done a huge amount of sports, from being a kid to now, and rugby was my first sport – it’s the one that I love watching and engaging with. When I was younger, Scottish rugby didn’t have a huge amount of success but in the nineties when they were on a high, Doddie Weir was a big character in that.

When it was announced that Doddie had been diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND), I think it hit everyone in the Scottish rugby community hard. But we’re a close-knit community, and we quickly rallied around to raise some money to find a cure.

I first got involved in DoddieAid activities in lockdown, and this March, I’ll be embarking on my biggest challenge yet. Over the course of 7 days, I’ll be cycling 500 miles with a group of fellow rugby fans from Nice to Rome, aiming to be in Rome ready for the Italy v Scotland Six Nations match. That works out at between 100-120km a day on the saddle!

In total, there are around 25 different groups travelling to Rome from all across Europe as part of the challenge. The lead team are going from Murrayfield in Edinburgh to Rome in just 5 days, and will be carrying the match ball for the game. Our route will take us along the French coast around Genoa and then into Italy, so the views should be spectacular!

In total, we’re aiming to raise £1 million for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which will support research to find a cure for MND and also provide grants for people with the disease. I’m personally aiming to raise at least £5,555 (as Doddie wore the number 5 shirt when he played for Scotland) and would really appreciate any support my alumni community can give.

That’s an amazing target to be aiming for – and what an epic challenge! How is your training going so far?

Unsurprisingly, a lot of my training is taking place indoors at the moment, what with the weather being particularly awful! But I've always enjoyed taking on a challenge that is a bit bonkers and out of my comfort zone, so I’m really enjoying it.

Obviously, it’s an ambitious challenge and will be hard work, but training is going well. I don’t think it’s going to be the distance that’s going to cause issues if I’m honest, it’s more the time on the saddle. Covering over 100km a day on a bike, that’s some long days! So I’m just making sure I've got everything set up properly – all the kit I need – to be as comfortable as possible.  

Good luck!

How you can support Fergus

Please share this story with your fellow Newcastle graduates to get the word out about Fergus’s challenge. And if you would like to donate to his fundraising efforts, you can do so via JustGiving.

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