A dog called Indy taking part in a walk for Doddie Aid 2024.
Doddie Aid Fundraising League Go The Distance To Help Fund Vital Research Into Motor Neurone Disease
2 months ago 
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Over 300 veterinary professionals from 30 IVC Evidensia practices in Scotland came together to fundraise for the well-known motor neurone disease (MND) charity, Doddie Aid.
Orchestrated by Beth Sweeney, a veterinary surgeon from Kilbarchan Vets, the mass-participation event was designed to get colleagues moving with any and all activities accepted, including kayaking and cross-country skiing, amongst many others.
The total for this year’s fundraising came to a whopping £6,420, and the total distance covered by all participants came to 41,465 miles.
One of the activity highlights included a New Years Day Dip at Mugdock park with Glasgow Team Captain Eilidh Barbour and Xander Fagerson.
Distance from activities could be tracked from 1 January with the event ending on 3 February, ceremoniously coinciding with the whistle kicking off the first game for Scotland in the Six Nations Rugby League tournament, which they ended up narrowly winning against Wales.
Along with organising weekly updates for league positions, the team behind it gave out fun prizes for participants including youngest player, best dressed dog and furthest travelled snood. They also had a ‘Doggie Aid’ week with a prize given out via video stream by former Scotland International rugby player, Scott Hastings.
Beth commented on the success of this year’s league:
“After having 10 practices in our fundraising league last year, it was wonderful to see us get 30 practices participating and raising money for such a worthwhile and important charity. I’m so grateful for everyone who got involved this year and made it the most successful Doddie Aid so far!”
Doddie Aid was originally founded by former Scotland captain and British and Irish Lion, Rob Wainwright, and over the last three years has seen almost 80,000 participants cover 8 million miles and raise over £4 million for the Foundation.
The event splits participants into six districts, with the winning district being the one which covers the furthest distance over the duration of the event.
Roxanne Ferguson, Area Support Manager for the region, added:
“The team pulled out all the stops this year and I’m so proud of Beth for organising such a brilliant fundraising campaign. We couldn’t have done it without the support of our practice network, who really got involved this year to make it a success.
“Not only were we able to get active at the start of a new year, it brought us together as a community to collectively add our support for finding a cure for MND. Here’s to even more miles covered in 2025!”
If you would like to find out more about Doddie Aid, head over to the website here. For further contributions to this year’s campaign, you can find the JustGiving page here.
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