A FORMER special forces soldier will row solo across the Atlantic to raise £1million for charity after being inspired by rugby legend Doddie Weir.

John Davidson, 56, is taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge to support the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation which raises funds for research into Motor Neurones Disease (MND).

Father-of-four John, originally from Dundee and now living in Worcestershire, was inspired after meeting fellow Scotsman Doddie, who has since been diagnosed with the debilitating disease and set up his foundation with the aim of finding a cure.

John, who joined the army aged 19 and served until 1996, and was in the SAS, said: “I met Doddie at Malvern College three years ago where he was giving an after-dinner speech, which in true Doddie style was funny, warm and full of hilarious anecdotes.

“I then bumped into him at Murrayfield where I was watching Scotland play England. Last minute ticket bookings meant that my son Hamish and myself were in a room with about 95 England supporters, we couldn’t get in the Scottish wing with Doddie and fellow Scotsman. Upon hearing this Doddie picked Hamish up under his arm and carried him into the room and gave an inspirational talk about how you can do anything you want to do and how important children are to the future of rugby. It meant a lot to Hamish, who was nine at the time.

“So it just felt right to support his foundation with this challenge.”

To call John’s Atlantic row ‘a challenge’ is something of an understatement. It will take him one million strokes of the oar to traverse the 3,000-mile expanse, and he’s hoping to reach his £1million target by encouraging everyone who hears his story to donate at least a £1.

John is one of eight solo rowers taking on the quest this year, which begins on December 12 (weather depending) and will take between 50-60 days (again weather dependant!), and although he’s playing catch-up when it comes to training, he has no doubt that he will succeed.

“Most people signed up for the challenge two years in advance, but I did it with just six months before it starts, so I’m having to do a lot of catching up with my training,” he said.

“I had a ‘55-year-old sit at a laptop 12 hours a day body’ but thankfully muscle memory and determination has meant intensive training sessions have had to kick in and kick start this body back into shape fast. The mental side will be the biggest challenge because you’re in a boat on your own for all that time and you have to force yourself to keep rowing even when you’re exhausted, but I’m used to that kind of mental test from my time in the special forces. I know I will do it.”

John, who has run a consultancy company since leaving the forces, added: “There’s a tendency to think that the adventure in your life is over by the time you hit 50, so it’s a great thing to show that you can always do something a bit crazy like this, no matter your age.”

He said that the rugby community is “a family” and that the sport is “very personal” to him, hence his decision to support Doddie’s foundation.

“My best friend was killed in action in 1991 while we were serving in the Gulf War,” he said. “David ‘Shug’ Denburry MM QGM. We made a deal that if anything happened to one of us, we would support each other’s teams if they were not playing each other. He was a great rugby player and proud Welshman so I wear a Scotland top and a Wales top to honour this memory.

“That idea of honouring someone special is behind me doing this challenge.”

See madgiraffeatlanticrow.co.uk for more on John’s challenge and how to donate.