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Humphrey Cobbold (Natural Sciences 1983) with PureGym colleagues and Mark Beaumont, third from left, and Rob Wainwright, fourth from left.

When a blue-and-yellow-tartan-clad peloton left Melrose for a four day, 800-mile journey to Dublin, Humphrey Cobbold (Natural Sciences 1983) was among them.

Humphrey took to his bicycle to join Doddie’s Triple Crown, the 2026 edition of Rob Wainwright and Mark Beaumont's epic annual cycling challenge to deliver the match ball for a Six Nations fixture and raise funds for My Name'5 Doddie Foundation. Wainwright was a Scotland and British and Irish Lions rugby union team-mate of Doddie Weir, who died in November 2022, aged 52, six years after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, but not before launching his eponymous charity with its distinctive tartan. Beaumont is a world record-breaking ultra-endurance cyclist.

Wainwright was also a contemporary of Humphrey’s at Cambridge and the pair were in the same friendship group. He read medicine at Magdalene College on an Army bursary before embarking on his rugby career.

“It was a great event to be part of,” says Humphrey, a keen cyclist and chair of PureGym, the largest chain of gyms in the UK and sponsors of the event. 

“It's really a very satisfying thing to have done and a nice connection, going back to my Cambridge days.”

MND is a life-shortening, rapidly developing disease which affects the motor neurons of the nervous system, with around 5,000 adults in the UK affected at any one time, and there is currently no cure. The My Name’5 Doddie Foundation aims to raise awareness and fundraise for research. 

Taking the scenic route, Humphrey joined the group riding from the Scottish Borders to Leeds on day one (Tuesday 10 March), to Gloucester on day two, and to south-west Wales on day three. The cyclists persevered through strong headwinds, “barely rideable” crosswinds, torrential downpours and a cancelled overnight ferry crossing. A prior commitment ruled Humphrey out of the Irish Sea crossing and fourth leg, from Rosslare to Dublin, ahead of the Ireland-Scotland match, in an event which , surpassing their £1m target.

Humphrey’s participation in Doddie’s Triple Crown was "negotiated" at the start of another charity bike ride, the , established by Sir Chris Hoy, the six-time Olympic champion cyclist who in October 2024 announced his terminal prostate cancer diagnosis.  

The Tour de 4 is named after stage four cancer, to demonstrate that a devastating diagnosis does not define the limits of what is possible.

As chief executive of Wiggle, a leading online sports goods retailer, Humphrey got to know Hoy, with the relationship continuing when he moved to PureGym, with Hoy becoming a long-time PureGym ambassador.

As a friend, Humphrey rode in support of Hoy at the Tour de 4 event, coming across familiar face Wainwright, who invited Humphrey to join the next ride in aid of the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. 

Humphrey adds: “On the start line for Chris' ride I found myself a bit daunted being surrounded by a legion of British sporting champions supporting Sir Chris - inter alia Andy Murray, Mark Cavendish and my old friend Rob Wainwright. Remembering that Rob had won a heavyweight boxing blue as well as being a world class rugby player, when he told me PureGym and I should be riding for Doddie this year, I thought it safer just to say yes."

Humphrey, left, and fellow Doddie's Triple Crown riders at the summit of Holme Moss in West Yorkshire

Humphrey and PureGym supported the Doddie’s Triple Crown riders, with the gym in Leeds providing much-needed respite, hot showers, food and overnight accommodation. 

Weir’s foundation website includes a quote which reads “My attitude is that you should do what you can today and worry about tomorrow when it comes”, a positive approach which Hoy is also showing, and which we can all get behind.

Outreach initiatives are important to Humphrey and his colleagues at PureGym. They have also partnered with to offer free membership for those with Parkinson’s Disease and their carers, as exercise is proven to slow down the progress of Parkinson’s, the and .

“My colleagues like to be helping people and like to see us as an organisation help people,” Humphrey adds. “We have a mantra that we're there to inspire a healthier nation, which includes people who are less well.

“We all hope we can make a bit of a difference in life. I do what I do and I love the business that I'm responsible for at PureGym. And if we can extend that a little bit to help make life better for people who are unwell, then why wouldn't we do that? It's just a good thing to do and it's the right thing to do.”