Epic ride to say thank you for twins

A GROUP of cyclists has completed a Land’s End to John O’Groats ride in just seven days to raise money for the care of premature babies.

The 990-mile journey was inspired by Emersons Green twins Olivia and Beatrice Russell, whose lives were saved by the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Southmead Hospital.

The sisters, known as Liv and Bea, were born 12 weeks early on Valentine’s Day 2019, weighing 4lb 4oz combined.

Their uncle Dorian Brown wanted to support the NICU and flew home from South Korea, where he works as a teacher, for the LeJog challenge. He was joined by friends Sam Arts, Jon Baron and Kendall Douglass, cyclists he met while living abroad. They rode around 136 miles per day and were joined for the final 175 miles by Jon’s 14-year-old son, Patrick.

Dorian, who grew up in Bristol, said the ride had been tough: most cyclists take 10-14 days to complete the journey.

He said: “It was more challenging, both mentally and physically, than we thought, but we got it done and saw some amazing landscapes along the way. We also raised some money for a great cause.”

The twins’ mum and Dorian’s sister, Melody Russell, said: “You can always count on my brother to suggest some utterly crazy challenge to tackle, but he is a man of his word and he and the other guys totally smashed it. As a family we couldn’t be more proud of them all.”

The riders have already raised more than £6,000 of their target

£7,500 to buy three specialist monitors for the NICU, so more premature babies can have the same chance as Liv and Bea.

The girls spent 76 and 108 days on the unit before Melody and her husband Tim were able to take them home to Emersons Green.

They are now thriving and looking forward to starting at Emersons Green Primary School in September.

Melody said: “The ‘Angels in Blue’ were a complete lifeline to us as a family when the girls were born - as they are to hundreds and hundreds of families every year.

“There will never be enough words to describe the care, compassion and love they provided to us all during those long and sometimes very dark 3½ months, but it’s because of them that I am now able to call myself a mum.

“This is why we as a family wanted to give back just that little bit, to help them continue with the amazing work they do every day.”

Melody and Dorian’s mum Debbie Laurence and her

To donate to the cause visit southmeadhospitalcharity. enthuse.com/pf/lejog.