Fundraisers have brought in £23,000 to support Gloucestershire cricket legend David ‘Syd’ Lawrence in his journey with motor neurone disease (MND).
Hundreds of people turned out to support Syd, who was diagnosed in June, by taking part in the 24hr ‘Sycle for Syd’ cycling challenge.
The event on November 9 saw the fundraisers cycle the equivalent distance between Gloucestershire’s Seat Unique Stadium and Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, against whom Syd, now club president, made his international debut for England at Lord’s in 1988. The 6,525 mile distance was completed on static bikes with participants taking it in turns on 22 static bikes.
Matty Hudd, the owner of Trojan Fitness, said: “These events are not what we want to be doing because they’re always in a time of crisis. We all wish we were in the gym training with Syd but as he said in his own words, this is the hand he has been dealt, and all we want to do is to be there for Syd every single day.
“We just want to show Syd the love we all have for him and his family and I hope we achieved that over the weekend.”
Syd took 625 wickets in 280 matches for Gloucestershire, bowling with blistering pace that earned him five Test and one ODI appearance with England, an international career that was cut short due to a career-ending knee injury vs New Zealand in 1992.