Lewis Moody to bring 2003 World Cup stars back together for charity

The initiative aims to raise funds and awareness in the fight against motor neuron disease (MND). He will be joined by a group of rugby legends, as well as close friends and family.

The Lewis Moody & Friends Cycle Challenge will feature Moody leading “The Lewis XV”, a lineup of former international players, national and club captains, and several members of the 2003 World Cup-winning squad.

Together, they will ride a route that holds personal significance, linking locations central to Moody’s life and rugby career.

Among those taking part are Phil Vickery, Jonny Wilkinson, Martin Corry, Mike Tindall, Ben Kay, Kenny Logan, Tom Croft, Geordan Murphy, Leon Lloyd, Ben Youngs, Tom Youngs, Lee Mears, Danny Care, Dan Hipkiss, Andy Gomarsall and Louis Deacon.

Moody’s teenage sons, Dylan and Ethan, will also join the challenge, reflecting the family’s shared commitment to making a difference. They will ride alongside Moody’s close friends, adventurers, and regular charity challenge partners, Alan Chambers and Billy Perham.

The journey begins on Sunday 14th June at Newcastle Red Bulls, the northernmost PREM Rugby club, and concludes on Saturday 20th June at Allianz Stadium (Twickenham), where the group will deliver the match ball for the Gallagher PREM Rugby Final.

The route will pass through several key locations from Moody’s career, including Leicester Tigers, where he secured seven league titles and two Heineken European Cups, his former school Oakham School, Bracknell RFC where he started playing mini-rugby at age five, and Bath Rugby, where he finished his professional career.

The challenge is being organised in support of the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation (MNDF), a leading MND charity founded by the late Scottish rugby icon, Doddie Weir OBE.

The foundation has contributed over £23.5 million to MND research and provided more than £2 million in direct support to those living with the disease.

Since receiving his own MND diagnosis, Moody has engaged with the MND community and explored the work of various organisations. Inspired by MNDF’s mission to create a world free from MND, he has chosen to support the charity through this campaign.

Speaking about the foundation and his decision to undertake this cycle challenge, Moody said:

"I am really proud to be aligning with the My Name’5 Doddie foundation. The foundation has done incredible work. Doddie was a pioneer and was a force of a nature as a character. I feel that I am being brought off the bench to take that baton forward and trying to get this job done.

"That sounds like an easy thing to say, but it is a very difficult thing to achieve. Whether that is in my lifetime or not, I very much intend to give my energy and time to a cause that’s worthwhile and one I genuinely believe will produce outcomes.

"When I arrived in this space and I have chatted about this with Kenny [Logan] on numerous occasions, I think the space arrived in time is vastly different to the one that Doddie and Rob [Burrow] arrived in, in that I feel a sense of hope.

"When I speak to specialists they speak about hope. I don’t know that would have been the case when those guys were diagnosed.

"Of course, hope is one thing and it is nice to have that sense but actions are really where I find my energy and my focus is wanting to move, hoping to create clear actions and then clear actions into outcomes.

"Again that’s why it has become easy to align and I just want to support the incredible work of My Name’5 Doddie and hopefully amplify it going forward."

He also described how the group of riders came together:

"Since diagnosis everyone has been insanely generous and kind with their time and people doing all sorts of things. and so when I sent out the request, pretty much everyone said yes. There were numerous reasons why some couldn’t - various bits of the body falling off or something else.

"It’s been overwhelming - the support I’ve received from my 2003 group, from my Leicester group, from the wider rugby community, there has been no hesitation in wanting to jump forward.

"I couldn’t be more grateful of my former colleagues. I chatted to Vicks [Phil Vickery] the other day, he was like: “Mate. I absolutely… - he used expletives that we won't put into this - but I hate cycling, but I am 100 per cent going to do this with you.

"Maybe that sense of connection again and camaraderie and coming together when you’ve got a common goal and it hurts a little bit it makes it easier to get through."